Seeking Power
by Forthwith - The Real One
Summary: Archmage Twilight Sparkle barely sleeps between her duties, her research, and raising Spike. Now she also has to deal with an evil goddess's return. It would have been nice if Celestia had mentioned this a year ago…
1. Prelude - Creativity

_A brilliant multichromatic streak filled the sky and something somewhere stirred._

* * *

Today was the summer solstice and thus the final day of the Summer Sun Celebration. Canterlot was, as it frequently was, the host for the festival this year.

The city had been invaded by the usual attractions for the last few days, hosting a wide variety of stomach turning foods and rides on which to lose that food. Many streets had been closed off for dancing and music, and if a pony listened carefully, every song would melt together into one fast-paced, tone-deaf extravaganza.

For many, the festival was a time to relax and unwind with something different from the daily grind. For a four year old Twilight Sparkle, it was an opportunity.

Only a few weeks ago, Twilight had made her first clumsy attempts at telekinesis and had been enthralled immediately. She had, of course, seen her parents and brother casting magic, but the surge of power exiting her own horn for the first time had been exhilarating in ways mere observation could never compare.

She wanted more.

Twilight had not bothered her preschool teacher with her burning desire to learn: she already had enough trouble controlling the foals under her care. Her own parents were often just as busy, as was her brother who was graduating this year. Her foalsitter, Cadance, was nice enough, but as a pegasus could not teach unicorn magic at a respectable level.

In response, she had turned to books, and quickly discovered that her reading skills were not yet up to par to parse the dense texts she had stolen from her brother's room. Frustrated and embarrassed, she had asked her parents for simpler books who had enthusiastically obliged.

Twilight had eagerly opened the first book and within an hour had discovered her age and inexperience had thwarted her once more. She had been still far too weak magically to cast even the simplest of spells.

And yet she had read and had learned what she could, eagerly awaiting the day when her daily training would make her strong enough to cast a real spell, rather than dawdle with telekinesis.

One book in particular, simply entitled _The Alicorn_, had drawn her attention. It had been clearly a foal's book, containing more illustrations than words. Still, if it were to be believed, there was a princess like Cadance that could move the sun and moon.

Twilight had known she knew little about the world, but that had still stretched her willing suspension of disbelief. She had asked her brother who had laughed and said that it was not only true, but that he was attending that very alicorn's school.

Her brother had gone on to clarify that she could watch the princess, Princess Celestia, raise the sun at the festival in a few days.

So Twilight had waited, perhaps not patiently, but she had waited nonetheless. When her family had finally gone to the festival, she had tried to enjoy it, but her uncompromising curiosity was getting the better of her.

When the announcement was made that Princess Celestia would be raising the sun in ten minutes, Twilight bolted off unthinkingly into the crowd. It wasn't long before she realized that she was, assuredly, lost.

And alone.

Twilight had never been more than a room away from somepony she knew before. Even with hundreds upon hundreds of other ponies around her, they were no replacement for her family.

_Calm down. Mom told me to find help if I get lost._

"Excuse me," Twilight began only to have the mare ignore her, or perhaps simply not hear her.

"Um," Twilight said, trying to get a stallion's attention who was otherwise occupied in conversation and moving faster than Twilight could keep up.

_Okay, Twilight. Don't cry. So what if nopony cares? Mom told me to find somepony to help me if I–I get lost. I… I can…_

Twilight started crying as the crowd continued to shuffle around her. Not the intense, attention drawing crying of a lost foal, but the softer tears and sobs of somepony desperately trying to act grown up.

After what seemed like hours to Twilight, but was probably seconds, a unicorn with a lime green coat and rainbow colored swirl cutie mark came up to her.

"Oh, you poor little filly. Are you lost?"

Twilight sniffed and nodded.

"Do you know where your family is?"

Twilight shook her head and stammered, "I w–was headed to the c–cera–ceremony and–"

"It'll be alright," the mare said, raising Twilight to her back with her magic. Somehow she managed to nuzzle Twilight who was trying not to fall off. "We'll just head right over and get you a good view of the crowd and Princess Celestia. We might be able to find them there once the sun comes up."

Twilight managed to bring her tears down to a mere runny nose and thanked her.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked.

"Daisy. What's your name?"

"I'm Twilight."

"How pretty. Much better than Daisy anyway."

"Thanks."

"And good manners too. Are you a princess?"

Giggling, Twilight said, "No way. Cadance says it's no fun anyways."

"Cadance? …Are you talking about Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?"

"Um…maybe?"

"Is she a pink pegasus with heart shaped cutie mark?"

Twilight nodded, but realizing Daisy couldn't see her, said, "Yes."

Daisy walked in silence for a moment with Twilight wondering what she was thinking about.

"Are you sure you're not a princess?"

Twilight once more denied her alleged royal status.

"Well, even so you'd do well as one." Daisy stopped outside a throng of ponies after arriving at the main stage where Celestia would appear and looked around. Obviously discouraged, Daisy said, "Hold on tight."

Before Twilight could ask why, a light green glow enveloped both of them and they rose high above the crowd. Twilight nearly lost her grip in her brief panic, but regained it as she realized she was flying. Daisy landed on a nearby roof offering a full view of the crowd and the ceremony to come.

"That was amazing!" Twilight shouted as Daisy set her down on the rooftop. "I've never seen a unicorn fly! How did you do that?"

"Well, I graduated near the top of the class at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

"Really! My brother goes there too!"

"Yep. I was no match for the real monsters…"

"Monsters? Princess Celestia accepts monsters at her school?" Twilight had figured she would go there too since her brother said it was the best place to learn magic in Equestria. But if it had monsters…

"No, no. That's just an expression. What I mean is, there were some very talented ponies I couldn't compete with. But even then I wasn't too shabby myself." Veering the topic away, Daisy asked, "Can you do any magic yet?"

Twilight looked down and rubbed the roof with her hoof. "Not really. I can barely open a book…"

"That's pretty good actually. When I was your age I couldn't so much as move a balloon. Of course, now I can lift myself up onto roofs. With a passenger."

"So that's how you did it!" Once her initial excitement died down, Twilight realized there was a problem with that conclusion. "But if it's that easy, why don't other unicorns fly around?"

Daisy shrugged. "I don't know many spells, nor am I that powerful, but a little creativity goes a long, long way. Spells can be used in a lot of different ways besides the main reason they were developed. Most ponies never look outside the box to see what they can really do. Take telekinesis. They see everypony else using it solely for moving other things and never think to turn it on themselves.

"The same is true of pretty much every other spell, and every other magic, and…well, everything really. Rarely does a pony see something and repurpose it for a different task or try to improve it."

Daisy turned to Twilight and poked her in the nose. "I hope you won't be so silly as you grow up."

Twilight's eyes were positively glowing with admiration. Nothing in her books had even hinted at anything near what Daisy had just said.

"Do you really think I can be that smart?"

"It's not about being smart. Just keep looking for alternate solutions to problems and different ways to use magic."

"Hmm." Twilight stared thoughtfully towards the stage, trying to think about how she could use her weak telekinesis for something useful.

"Even with your magic still developing, I'm sure you can think of other uses for it besides turning book pages. Perhaps not right away, or right now, but maybe tomorrow, or the day after, or next week. The important part is not to be discouraged if nothing comes to mind or if you come up with an idea that doesn't work. Even bad ideas should be treated as a step in the right direction."

"Why?"

"Because you want to encourage yourself to think of ideas at all, not punish yourself for being creative and having things not work out."

"That's foalish."

"Oh, it is. But unfortunately, we're all pretty foalish inside."

Twilight looked skeptical and Daisy just laughed.

"Just remember what I've said. You'll understand in time. Oh and here's another secret. Don't make a habit of using telekinesis for moving yourself around. Walk most of the time."

"Why?"

"Because," Daisy began, then moved closer to Twilight to whisper, "you'll get fat."

Twilight gasped then looked questioningly at Daisy, but was too polite to ask.

"I see that look you have. It's true. Those were…not my better years."

Daisy smiled and Twilight couldn't help but giggle.

Then a fanfare of trumpets called out announcing the arrival of Princess Celestia. The alicorn seemed to glow in the early hours as she approached the stage. This being the first time Twilight had ever seen the princess, she could not help but gape.

Twilight could hear Daisy stifle a laugh and quickly shut her mouth but could not free herself of her stare.

Princess Celestia gave a long speech that Twilight barely paid any attention to and was soon banished from her memory by the splendor that followed.

Princess Celestia glowed as she rose into the sky above the stage and with her came the sun rising above the horizon. The sun's rays outlined Celestia in the air as her horn grew ever brighter, practically becoming a sun in its own right. The sky moved from black to purple to red to yellow and finally took on a familiar blue, each shade seeming to complement Princess Celestia in a different way.

When she returned to the stage, the crowd cheered and Twilight cheered with them. She had doubted, but what she had seen was too beautiful to doubt a moment longer.

Twilight had just finished her cheer when a thought took her. "Will I be able to raise the sun too?"

"…Maybe. I can't say it's impossible. Buuuut, I think Princess Celestia would probably be upset with you."

"Oh…"

"Oh, I think I see Princess Mi Amore Cadenza up on stage," Daisy said, a bit faster than she probably should have, lifting Twilight back onto her back. "I'll take you down there and we can get you home."

* * *

Night Light lugged two stacks of eleven books into his home, his light blue magic clearly showing the strain it had been put through during the journey. Setting them down at the bottom of the stairs, he took a break to ease his weary horn.

It was times like these that Night Light wished his daughter was strong enough to make her own library runs. And, on second thought, old enough as well. Five was a tad young to send somepony, even a prodigy of her level, alone into the world.

Picking up the books once more, Night Light finished the last leg of his errand and ascended the stairs. He then knocked on Twilight's door which was, quite fortunately, just at the top.

"Come in."

Twilight's door swung open in the light raspberry glow of her magic. Night Light stepped inside with the books trailing behind him.

"Hey, Twilight. I picked up the library books you asked for."

Twilight let out a small squee and hugged Night Light.

"Thank you so much!"

Night Light set the books down, returning Twilight's hug. "It's no problem. We're always happy to get you any books you want. Although, if you could spread your requests out into smaller sizes, that would make carrying them easier."

Twilight looked up from her hug and said, "I'll try."

"Oh, and your mother wants you to wash the dishes if you're feeling up to it."

Thinking for a moment, Twilight nodded. "I can manage it."

Breaking apart from each other, Night Light and Twilight walked downstairs and into the living room. Twilight continued into the kitchen while Night Light diverted to the study where his wife was working.

"I still can't believe it," Night Light said, causing his wife to glance up from her work. "What are the chances we get two geniuses out of two foals?"

Twilight Velvet shrugged. "Either really good, or really bad. But I suspect the former. It's a lot easier when we know what to do. Shining is grown too and helps out a lot. Though I still suspect something important happened at the last Summer Sun Celebration."

Night Light considered that as he always did. It was quite obvious that seeing Princess Celestia raise the sun had fanned the flames of Twilight's interest in magic. But beyond that, there was something different in how she behaved that neither Night Light nor Velvet had ever been able to quite place.

"Still, I'm worried about her," said Night Light.

"We've had this conversation before, dear. Several times."

"I know, I know. It's just, Shining had trouble in school making friends. He was smart and studious and sort of a show off. A lot of his peers ended up resenting and bullying him, or just pretended he didn't exist.

"But Twilight… She doesn't even seem to care. It's like she doesn't even notice other ponies exist. She was like that even before the festival. Just less obviously so."

"She took to Cadance quickly enough."

"Cadance stepped up and helped her learn to read while foalsitting Twilight. There's no way she wouldn't like her after that."

Velvet sighed. Night Light recognized that particular brand of sigh as the one she always makes when she's tired of arguing a point.

"I think Shining may have put it best," she said. "He does have a much better understanding of her mentality."

Performing her best imitation her son, Velvet quoted, "'It doesn't matter if she never has a single friend in her life so long as she's enjoying herself.'" Velvet paused to massage her throat before continuing. "I know it's odd, but who are we to question what she enjoys?"

"Her parents."

"That doesn't mean we should try to change who she is. Altering her utility function would be tantamount to killing her. Of course then we'd have a new filly running around the house."

Night Light rolled his eyes and collapsed onto the sofa next to Velvet. "Why did I ever marry a philosopher?"

"You know why," Velvet said, a knowing smile creeping up her face.

"Heh heh. Oh yeah."

The faint sound of tableware breaking entered the study.

"Oh dear," Velvet worried. "Could you take care of that, Nighty?"

Night Light nodded and left the study.

_Apparently it's too soon to ask Twilight to do the dishes._

A second crash, this one louder, came from the kitchen and was followed by a barely audible grinding sound.

_Odd… I would have expected Twilight to stop trying after the first accident. She's not the kind of filly that can't recognize her limi–_

Walking into the kitchen, Night Light saw Twilight smash a third plate on the floor. He was so puzzled by her behavior that he said nothing and just watched as Twilight broke the plate into smaller pieces.

Twilight's horn glowed brightly and her face clearly showed the strain she was putting on it. A small skittering sound came from the pieces of the smashed plate as they slowly came together back into their original form looking brand new.

_That…was impressive…_

Twilight took a deep breath before grabbing another plate in her magic and smashing it to the ground like she had the previous one.

"Any particular reason you're…washing the dishes like that?" asked Night Light.

Looking up surprised, Twilight answered, "It's faster this way. And they get cleaner."

"But not easier I'd imagine. You look like you're pushing yourself too hard."

Shrugging, Twilight continued her work.

"When did you even learn a repair spell?"

Twilight did not answer until she placed another newly re-minted plate with the others. "I dropped a book in a puddle. There was water damage even with magic helping." Twilight broke another plate. "I needed a way to fix it. The basic repair spell is… vers… versi… versatile–" The latest plate joined the rest after a few more seconds of magic. "–but tiring."

"I see… You're learning at an incredible rate." A huge smile greeted the complement. _Oh, she's so cute!_ "What are you planning to do with the silverware?"

"I don't _need_ to break them. It just makes it easier" – *crash* _–_ "to see the spell as repairing them if they're really broken."

Not knowing any repair magic himself, Night Light waited until Twilight had finished with her latest spell to interrupt her. "If you're in such a rush to get back to reading, why don't you let me finish these for you."

"Really?"

"Yep. Go have fun."

"Thanks!" After another hug, Twilight bounded out of the kitchen, presumably upstairs to her room.

Night Light watched his daughter run off and then turned to examine her hoofiwork. Levitating it up to examine every angle, he found there was absolutely nothing to complain about.

_Very impressive…_

* * *

Shining Armor always knew where to find his little sister, and he even did not have to use a tracking spell. If Twily wasn't with his best friend, and secretly his mare friend, Cadance or out with the family then she was in her room reading or practicing magic.

It had been almost a year since he moved out and joined the royal guard. Since then, what little free time he had, he mostly spent with Cadance. But today, Cadance was busy doing 'princess stuff', leaving Shining free to visit Twily.

Bursting into Twily's room, Shining shouted, "LSBFF!"

"BBBFF!" replied Twily, jumping into Shining's open forelegs. "What brings you here, Shining?"

"I had some free time and wanted to see my adorable little sister now that she's six years old."

The smallest and subtlest frown passed over Twily's face before returning to a smile. "Oh? So what should we do?"

"Hey, I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"Oh, you little liar," accused Shining as he gave Twily a gentle noogie. "I should throw you in jail for lying to a royal guardspony. I saw that frown. What's wrong?"

Twily avoided Shining's eyes for a while, but Shining had no intention of letting her out of answering.

"I was just…at a bad point to stop reading… But it's no problem. Let's go have some fun together!"

* * *

Twilight Velvet and Night Light returned home late at night and found Cadance sitting next to a sleeping Twilight, now seven years old, whose face was firmly planted in a book with notes littered around her. This had happened several times before but each time was just as adorable as the last for all three of them.

"Thanks for foal sitting Twilight again, Cadance," Velvet said.

"It's no trouble at all. All I have to do is give Twi a new book and she entertains herself the entire night."

* * *

"Mom? Dad?" Twilight said, sitting down at the table. "Could you look over my application for me?"

"Application?" Velvet looked on questioningly, taking the papers Twilight placed on the table. "This is an application to Princess Celestia's school. And the scholarship application as well."

Night Light finished, "We were going to fill these out for you and surprise you next week just after your birthday."

"Oh, sorry about that." Twilight almost immediately realized she had an irreplaceable opportunity. Putting on the best big pleading eyes she could, Twilight asked, "You don't suppose I could get a different surprise, could I?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something," Night Light mused.

"Hmm," Velvet said, thinking. "I suppose I have an idea."

"What is it?" Twilight eagerly asked.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?"

"I suppose not…"

"You'll just have to wait. And when you least expect it," Velvet trailed off, nudging Night Light under the table.

A brief pause and Night Light continued, "Wham! Surprise and happy times!"

Twilight jumped, shocked by Night Light taking over the sentence, then started laughing. Her parents were not as interesting as magic, but they certainly knew how deliver a joke.

* * *

_Twilight. T. Why can't ponies pick names like…Zel…or Xyn…um…Water Lilly. That one's good. All this waiting is so, very, _stressful_. What's the point of having a great name like Twilight if you just get shuffled to the back of every single alphabetized list._

Twilight sighed. Her written exams went perfectly. At least it was her opinion that they did. Twilight put considerable stock in her ability to judge herself, so she had already erased the simplistic exam designed for eight year olds from her mind. All that remained was the practical test. A test that, for some bizarre reasoning, the proctors decided needed to be done one applicant at a time.

A proctor approached Twilight where she sat with a sweet smile. "Twilight Sparkle?" she asked as a formality to confirm despite Twilight being the only other pony in the room.

"Yep."

"If you would follow me, we're ready to start your practical examination."

"Alright."

Twilight followed the mare down a couple hallways into a large lecture hall where an entire panel of proctors, or what Twilight referred to as judges, waited to decide her fate. A small cart with a large egg rested in front of them.

"Is that a dragon egg?" Twilight asked, wondering for what possible reason such a thing would be present.

"Yes it is," the center judge replied. He was an old stallion, a small white beard growing from his jaw. His dark gray coat did nothing to help him look younger. His weak smile looked worn from dealing with more foals than anypony his age should. "I'm glad to see an applicant that is so knowledgeable."

"Thank you."

"I am Dean Weatherby," he continued. "This year's practical exam is to for you to hatch this dragon egg." Twilight was speechless. "Not all applicants are successful, and not all successful applicants will successfully hatch the egg. If their written exams are outstanding."

_Not all applicants successfully hatch the egg? How about 'no applicants are successful.' Hatching a dragon egg is hard enough, and I can tell from here that they have additional spells preventing it from hatching. What are they really testing here?_

"That said, do try your best. I remember your brother was very talented and we expect good things from you as well. You have up to twenty minutes to try any approach you wish."

_Well, that certainly makes a filly less nervous. Sigh…_

_So, given that it's obvious they don't expect anypony to hatch the egg, what do they want to see? Creative approaches? Raw power? Knowledge that this shouldn't be possible? Maybe some combination of the three? Do they want me to try even knowing?_

_I suppose I should at least see what spells they put on the egg._

Twilight sat down next to the egg and started to direct small scale probing spells at it. After a few minutes of sitting completely still staring at the egg, having done nothing apparently interesting (for the proctors were not yet monitoring what spells Twilight was using), the proctors looked a bit bored. Weatherby gave them a stern glare but was unable to get them to focus on Twilight after a long day of examinations.

_This is some of the laziest spellcraft I have _ever_ seen. I suppose I can't expect anypony my age to notice, let alone be able to pick it apart, but still, I'm rather insulted. They could have at least tried. What if somepony actually managed to hatch the egg and mother or father a dragon? I can only imagine what…_

_What if that pony was me? The only worry is that pesky time limit. I'm not strong enough to brute force this…_

* * *

Weatherby was watching carefully. The filly in front of him had not done anything particularly interesting yet, although to be fair he was not actively monitoring her spellcasting yet.

Still, this Twilight Sparkle was apparently the younger sister of Shining Armor who had graduated only a few years ago at the very top of his class. Of course, he wouldn't dream of judging a candidate based on their family or their connections, but he could make predictions from them.

A glint came into Twilight's eye that only Dean Weatherby, who had decades of experience dealing with trouble making foals, noticed. He immediately investigated what spells Twilight was casting and he was staggered so hard he almost feared a heart attack.

_She's picking at the protection spells's weak points! She's already knocked out two of them! How is she… I see. I will need to have a talk with Cobalt Prism later about quality spellcraft on exam materials._

Weatherby watched Twilight pick away another pair of spells from the egg in less than a minute.

_Dear Celestia, that filly is talented. She'll have them all off a few minutes before time is called at this rate._

Dean Weatherby wondered what he should do. He could call the test just in case, but he was curious how far Twilight Sparkle could get.

The foals at his school caused all kinds of trouble and wacky hijinks (all of which he secretly laughed at as he scolded the perpetrators), but this one promised to take the cake. He could just imagine the priceless looks when he told the other proctors what the little filly was doing to their spells while they sat bored and mostly ignoring her.

Weatherby was finally called back to the room from his thoughts, much to his regret, when Twilight stomped the ground, apparently in frustration. Quickly checking the clock, he noticed ten minutes had passed while he had laughed at his thoughts.

Twilight rooted herself to the ground harder and Weatherby considered that somepony had put on a particularly good spell. Briefly.

Weatherby probed the magic surrounding Twilight to figure out what was frustrating her so much. All he determined was that she was dumping out a lot of raw magical power.

_No way… She couldn't already be…_

Weatherby checked the egg posthaste to determine what spells were left on it. Finding none he jumped out of his chair, startling the other proctors who had finally started paying attention to Twilight. But not the egg.

"Wait!"

* * *

Twilight stomped the ground as hard as she could. It would not do anything useful, but it released a bit of her irritation.

She had just removed the last spell, far ahead of her original estimated time, and started pushing raw magic into the dragon egg to hatch it.

_Why! Don't! You! Hatch!_

Twilight thought she heard somepony shout _something_, but it was too early for time to be called so she ignored it.

_Fine! I'll put everything I have into you and buck how tired it makes me!_

Twilight threw as much magic as she possibly could into the dragon egg. The stress on her horn was outrageous, far beyond anything she had ever experienced before. It almost felt like it was breaking, but Twilight was determined to see this to the end.

She bit her tongue to keep herself from screaming as her magic and her will both began to waver. With a quick breath, Twilight put what remained of herself into one last push.

_*Crack*_

The world stopped.

Everypony heard it – the sound of an egg cracking. Seconds passed in silence, broken only by further cracking from the egg. After a minute had passed the newly born dragon rolled out of its egg.

Then, as if to punctuate this event, a deafening boom resounded with no discernible source. A small wave of magic came with the noise; the incompatible magic further irritated Twilight's horn. She was nearly ready to pass out from combined magical exhaustion and minor physical trauma.

After everypony's hearing returned, the only sound was the cry of the newborn dragon.

On her last breath, Twilight struggled to sit up from where she had collapsed. Twilight stammered out, "There. I did it. Now don't give any– any impossible– tests any– anymore," before collapsing once more and letting herself lose consciousness.

* * *

Weatherby sat with his fellow proctors, deciding which applicants they would accept and which they would be forced to turn away. As usual, the princess had joined them. Princess Celestia took it as her personal responsibility to be here at her school to make sure merit and ability were always the deciding factors.

Each time she showed up late, as she did today, she always reviewed every decision already made (disturbingly fast to Weatherby, as if she threw off any pretense of mortality the alicorn put on to keep her subjects at ease around her). Further, she always started with reviewing the rejections.

Princess Celestia had only overruled an application decision he made once in his five decades as the head of the school, for one Sunset Shimmer. He knew better than to gloat to Princess Celestia after what Sunset did, but he still wanted to. Even two decades later.

But that was of little importance at the moment. He could see the hurt every time his princess had to agree with a rejection and wondered why she subjected herself to this and wouldn't simply trust his judgment.

After finishing reviewing the rejections, she moved on to the accepted applicants. Each one she was able to accept seemed to heal some of the hurt of the rejections, though not all.

Once Princess Celestia had caught up, the meeting continued. They were about halfway through the applications and Weatherby was eager to see how she was going to react to the one at the very bottom.

Each application came and went. As much as Weatherby hated to admit it, few if any of them showed real potential. Still, this was not Celestia's School for Future Legendary Mages, so he was able to admit many of them anyway.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the pile. "So," said Weatherby. "Does anypony have any objections to Twilight Sparkle?"

Nopony said a word, but Princess Celestia's brow noticeably furled, surprising everypony that saw her except Weatherby. He had spent enough time in his very long life with Princess Celestia to see her drop the eternally calm smile which was one of her many clams to fame.

"Dean Weatherby?" Princess Celestia began.

"Yes?" Weatherby responded, thinking, _This is going to be good_.

"One of my guards is Shining Armor, and I often hear him talking about his sister Twilight and how talented she is. I see that she even managed a perfect score on the written exams. But please tell me why the only comment on the practical section is 'A mother.'"

"Oh, I would have expected you would know if Shining won't stop talking about her," Weatherby began with playful delight he had not had a chance for in years. "It's recent, so I can understand you haven't heard from Shining, but she is a mother."

"Please elaborate how an eight year old filly manages to give birth to anything."

"It's not as difficult as it sounds. All you need is a dragon egg."

Princess Celestia's blank look was priceless. Weatherby had seen her in a lot of odd situations she was no doubt glad were not public, but this was the first time she appeared completely lost for words.

"…Did you change the practical exam without notifying me?"

"Nope."

"So you're saying–"

"She stripped off the protections and hatched it properly, yes."

Princess Celestia opened her mouth and shut it again, words once more failing her.

Finally, Princess Celestia said, "Please reject Twilight."

"Excuse me?" Weatherby said incredulously, accompanying the gasps and cries of anger from the rest of the room. "Why on Equus would we do that?"

"Because there's no grade we can put her in that could possibly keep pace with _her_."

"You can't tell her to teach herself!"

"Of course not." Celestia smiled again, but unlike the usual one, Weatherby noted this one was expectant and loving. "It's been a long time since the last one, but even I am entitled to take on a student."

* * *

_Miss Twilight Sparkle,_

_You will have to excuse the hoofwritten letter. I am afraid we do not have a standard letter for your case. I very much regret to inform you that Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is unable to accept you as a student despite your outstanding written and practical examinations._

_That said, another offer is being prepared for you (if you have not already received it by mail) that you should find quite exciting._

_Dean Weatherby_

_Head of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns_

_Defeater of Ralarth, Lord of Fire_

* * *

Twilight had not even finished the letter from Dean Weatherby before she decided that this was, in fact, the worst day of her life. She had been so sure she had not only passed both tests, but even outsmarted the proctors on the practical.

She had even gotten her starry cutie mark from the practical, although she had always expected to get one in magic, so it had not been very exciting. Now it felt like a brand marking her as a failure at the one thing she was supposed to be good at.

But surely it counted for something.

_Is it because I passed out at the end of the practical? Are they upset that I actually hatched the dragon? What about the taunt? I remember saying something rude, but I don't remember what…_

There were too many reasons they could give for failing her.

Twilight had tried to convince herself that this other offer was something to look forward to (and she _was_ confused they were even bothering), but she wasn't able to keep that up for more than a few seconds.

Night Light and Velvet looked on sadly but apparently could not think of the right words to say.

"Twilight," Velvet hazarded, "I know this meant a lot to you, but they did say they were preparing something special for you. I'm sure it's something good."

"Your mother's right. It was even hoofwritten. That has to mean something."

"I already know that," Twilight whimpered. "I know. I just… I think I need to be alone for a while."

Night Light and Velvet look to each other and sighed. The few times they had tried to force Twilight to open up early did not end well, and Twilight was sure that by now they knew she could deal with this on her own.

"We understand," Velvet said, an actually understanding tone, not one resigned to the inevitable, hanging in her voice. It was just what Twilight wanted to hear. "Just try not to cry your heart out too much."

"Thank you," Twilight mumbled as she left for her room.

* * *

_Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

_I hope this letter reaches you before the one from Dean Weatherby. He likes to play pranks and I should hate to cause you any undue distress. It has been well over three centuries since I have accepted a personal student, but you have clearly demonstrated abilities far beyond what my school can manage. I would be honored if you would permit me to instruct you personally._

_Every year I see young ponies go by who could do better in a less structured environment (your brother was one of them) but the funding required for such a school would be astronomical. While I do mint the money, I am certainly not made of it. Much to my regret. However, I am going off on a tangent._

_As I was saying, should you choose to attend my school (or any other), I suspect you shall be constantly constrained by the teaching curriculum. This would, at best, frustrate you as you continued your own studies, and, at worst, destroy your potential. I would not see your talent lost to the bureaucracies needed to run a school, or a country._

_If I have erred in my opinion on your wishes, I will arrange for you to attend my school (or any other of your choice) instead should you desire. You need not be concerned for my feelings on the matter. However, I do hope you accept my offer._

_(Hopefully) Your Friend and Mentor_

_Princess Celestia_

_Diarch of Equestria_

_Defeater of Discord_

_Alicorn of the Sun_

_P.S. I heard you got your cutie mark during the practical exam. Congratulations!_

_P.P.S. Since you live in Canterlot, my school would not have required you to live on campus. However, due to my dense and constantly changing schedule, I would require that you live in the castle._

_I suspect neither of us would be satisfied or happy if I had to send for you at random times for lessons, let alone your parents. Although, from what I hear of you, I suspect this is a favor and not a request as you would be housed near the Canterlot Archives._

_If your parents have any objections to this, we can try to arrange something else. However, if so, you could remind them that your brother would be nearby often._

_P.P.P.S. I doubt that this is close to your mind right now, but any choice you make will be fully funded._

* * *

With shaking magic, Twilight read the letter from Princess Celestia.

_Well over three centuries?_ _My school? C–could it be? T–This is!_

* * *

Night Light and Velvet grew increasingly worried as Twilight read more of the letter, her face contorting in odd ways they couldn't quite place.

Both were thinking the exact same thing: _What could possibly be written in that letter and why didn't we read it first?_

Finally Twilight fainted on the spot and dropped the letter.

"Twilight!" The pair called out together.

Night Light rushed to grab Twilight. Neither were unskilled at magic, telekinesis especially, and though it would have been better to catch Twilight with it, neither parent's reflexes were hooked up to their magic like their daughter's was.

Still Night Light managed to catch Twilight and set her down gently. Both wished they had paid more attention in their introduction to medical magic class. Fainting isn't hard to reverse, if you know what you're doing.

"What could possibly…" Velvet began, picking up and reading the letter.

Soon after she fainted too.

This time Night Light was ready and managed to gently lower Velvet to the ground with telekinesis.

Concern lined his face.

_Is the letter dangerous? I can't notice any magic on it or any triggering when they fainted. They're both okay, for certain definitions of okay. No noticeable ongoing spells. I guess I should take a look too._

And soon, he too fainted, with nopony to catch him.

* * *

"Hey everypony!" Shining shouted storming through his family's front door. "I hear my LSBFF is depressed! Well, I know just what to– Why is everypony sleeping on the floor?"

Shining noticed the letter and picked it up.

"Is this the culprit? Seems ordinary enough."

Shining read the letter and laughed.

"If you're defeated by something like this, you'd never make it in the royal guard, much less as the vice-captain."

Shining put down the letter and carried the three sleeping ponies to their beds.

_I hope Twily will need some royal guarding…_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Mirrored from FIMFiction. Some minor formatting and a longer story description have been lost in the mirroring process.

A brief note on the pony calender. I have only seen a few weak arguments on the internet attempting to determine the length of the pony year and the type of calender they use.

The strongest argument I have found (which has since been lost to the great tides of the internet) involved a brief look at Twilight's planner in one episode. If I remember correctly, the result was that the pony year was a few weeks longer than an Earth year.

Of course, this says little about how they keep the date, so I'm going to work with the following scheme:

Seconds, minutes, and hours as per human standards because the French Revolution ruined the metric clock.

10 days to the week.

10 weeks to the season.

4 seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) to the year.

The solstices and equinoxes occur in the middle of the relevant seasons.

The year starts at the summer solstice.


	2. Chapter One - Archmage

"_Where he failed, I will succeed! Mark this day, this hour, this minute, for it will echo in eternity!"_

* * *

A small burst of green flame erupted from Spike along with a letter. A few nearby guards reflexively started running before realizing the wyrmling had his flame breath under control this time.

He had been planning to visit Aunt Cadance, but Spike figured it was getting late and he should probably deliver the letter. Twilight's bizarre sleep schedule should have her awake right now and at home.

After trekking through most of the castle, stopping briefly for a snack at the kitchens and for small talk with Flash Sentry, Spike came to the base of the massive staircase that lead up to his home. Twenty stories was a long climb, even longer for Spike who lacked long pony legs, and he never made it more than twice a day if he could avoid it.

Today seemed to be a bit different though and Spike was forced to wonder if he had taken a wrong turn towards some other massive staircase. A statue appeared to have been erected in the middle of the staircase today for no particular reason. It was made of a dark brown stone and depicted a fancy looking pony climbing the steps, frozen mid-step.

On second thought, that stone smelled an awful lot like–

Spike's world inverted briefly as the pull of a teleport brought him from the fourth flight all the way to the top into the vestibule of his home. Twilight was fuming in her own mostly controlled way in the next room, but Spike felt he should say something even if it upset her further.

"Mom," Spike began, earning a glare from Twilight. "Err, I know you're feeling a bit stressed–"

"A bit!" Twilight shouted.

"Okay, maybe really stressed. But you went overboard there."

"I'm fed up with those bucking nobles bothering me for favors. I took the bucking archmage position to help Celestia; not so I could help the rabble with their petty games."

Twilight was not even bothering to look at Spike anymore. She had returned to whatever research she had in front of her and flipping through pages of books at a speed that still disturbed Spike.

"So just teleport them away before they get here like usual. The poor stallion didn't deserve to be encased in solid chocolate and left in the there to melt."

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled while rubbing her cheeks. She did not put down her work, but she at least seemed calmer to Spike.

"You're right, Spike. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" Spike asked. He was sure that her last field mission had tired Twilight mentally, if not magically or physically, but he never managed to get her to tell him what had happened.

"That's sweet, but I don't think a good mother should dump her problems on her son. It should be the other way around."

Spike noticed that Twilight never actually said no. It was the kind of detail you had to learn to spot with ponies like her raising you. Princess Celestia was even worse and Uncle Shining was simply terrible.

"Do you want to anyways?"

"Yes."

Spike sighed. He did not actually ask the right question.

"Are you going to?"

"No."

"Fine." Spike faceplamed, a habit he picked up from his mother. "Anyways, I have another letter for you."

Twilight's eye twitched, her attention now fully on Spike. "It's not… It's not from my parent's, is it?"

"Do you want me to just throw it in the fire?"

"No. I'll read it. But if it's more pressure to get married– I mean, they already have a grandfoal from _both_ Shining and I."

Twilight levitated the letter away from Spike's grasp and opened it. Reading it with superpony speed nearly on par with Celestia, she burned it to ash within ten seconds, seven of those seconds being composed solely of combusting paper.

"You know what you need right now?" Spike said. From experience, he knew there were only a few things which would tear his mother away from her irritation completely, but there were some close substitutes.

"A few more chocolate covered nobles? They taste divine."

"No," Spike deadpanned. "You need to read a good story!"

"I take it you also think I would benefit from reading it aloud."

"Weeeeeell, it couldn't hurt."

Twilight sighed and acquiesced. Operation win-win was a success. "Alright, Spike. I'll read to you until your bed time. What book do you want? More dragon stories?"

"Nah. I found an interesting old book in the library earlier."

"Really? You're taking an interest in dusty old books now? I'd better watch out, the world is ending."

"It's not a dusty old book," Spike denied. Two small puffs of flame emerged from his nose. "It's just filled with old stories that have gone out of the culture."

"Oh? That does sound interesting."

Spike and Twilight walked up another set of stairs to the upper floor of the tower where the bedrooms were. Entering Spike's room, he fetched a large, and very obviously old, book from his desk and gave it to Twilight.

She opened the book and made a quick pass through it noting the various titles and glancing at each story with the regular inpony speed.

"Spike," Twilight started, sitting down with Spike on his bed, "first, are you sure you want to hear these stories? They're pretty far afield from your usual ones."

Spike nodded.

"Second – I suppose this should have come first – this book is in Middle Equestrian. Did you even understand it when you picked it up?"

Spike nodded again. "It's not _that_ bad. Besides, you can translate it as you read."

"Well, I guess that's true," Twilight said, taking a second look at the text. "Third then. Where exactly did you get this book, when, and why did you pick it up?"

"Huh?"

"Please just tell me Spike. Don't worry, I'm sure you've done nothing wrong. And if you did, well, I could let it slide this time."

That was utterly shocking. Twilight did not have many rules for him, and far, far fewer than Aunt Cadance had for Star Charmer, but she was _very_ strict in enforcing them. Spike could not really find cause to complain though. They mostly involved things like not burning down the castle.

Spike was curious about what could be so important that Twilight would slacken her discipline, but he already knew she wouldn't tell him. He would have plenty of time to think about it later.

"Well, like I said, it was in the library. I wanted something different tonight and that was stuffed in with all the other books. I'm sure you noticed that it's illustrated too."

"Yes I did. Do you know if this book was normally there? Or if it was shelved differently than usual?"

"Um, can you show me the spine?" Spike glanced at the listed code and thought for a moment. Spike had learned all of the pony-decimal system to help and impress Twilight a few years ago and had been given a jewel-encrusted jewel as a reward. "Yeah, now that I think about it. But not by much. Maybe a few shelves over."

"Thanks," Twilight said, rubbing Spike's head. "Now, which story do you want to hear first?"

"The one with the alicorns," Spike said, settling into Twilight's lap.

"Alright. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters…"

* * *

Twilight closed the book and tucked Spike into bed. He only managed to get to the climactic battle between the sun and moon alicorns before he fell asleep.

Despite being a mere eight years younger than Twilight, Spike was barely an elementary schooler by pony standards. Long before Twilight took up responsibility for him, she had learned that dragons aged _very_ slowly and there were still no confirmed dragon deaths at the hooves of old age.

It was somewhat of a mixed blessing for Twilight. On one hoof, she had the privilege to be Spike's real mother despite massive opposition from her own family, not just the one that hatched him. On the other hoof, she could easily stretch her lifespan into Spike's teenage years, but would only make it to his adulthood if she took drastic measures.

Of course, she had every intention of taking drastic measures, with or without Spike to justify them, but she had no idea if she would succeed.

Breaking her attention away from Spike, Twilight teleported into the library with the book she had just been reading from. Tonight, she had more important things to do than wallow in such concerns.

Inhaling deeply, the scent of paper and mystery greeted Twilight as she walked through the massive Canterlot Archives, her worries forgotten.

_Ah, Spike was right. A good story laced with secrets was just what I needed. A legitimate reason to ignore my work and put the pieces of a puzzle together. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it. Still, this is probably the most heavy hoofed ancient puzzle I've ever seen. It'll probably only be good for tonight. I mean seriously, this is just lazy._

Twilight entered the history section and began tearing down the few books she knew about that covered the Discordian era. The restricted archives held more, but the time before and during Discord's reign might as well not exist with how little remained of it to study.

'_Hey kids, let's hear a story about two alicorn sisters. One controls the moon and the other the sun. What's that? No, of course not. There's no way the sun alicorn is Celestia. What would even make you think that?'_

Now in the section on legends and myths – disturbingly close to the history section – Twilight started collecting books dating before 300.

'_A sister? Sure, why not? A prophecy saying the the moon alicorn will return in a thousand years? You want to know the year? Well it's 999. Yeah, the sun alicorn didn't want to forget.'_

Taking nearly a hundred books with her, Twilight headed towards the restricted section to start reading.

_Hmm… I wonder if I should just skip this step. Dealing with evil goddesses is usually a high urgency task and we only have a little more than three weeks before the solstice._

To Twilight, it did seem like she could just bring her concerns straight to Celestia and then start demanding answers. The story was _outrageously_ filled with hints and clues just begging somepony to notice.

But Twilight could not help but think of when she had jumped to conclusions and accused Cadance of being a fake nine or so years ago. It turned out she had just desperately needed sleep and Cadance had been having a bad day and pre-wedding jitters. From that day on, Twilight never made any accusations without solid proof.

_Heh, would I have egg on my face if I barged into Celestia's room and discovered this _was _just a foals's story. Even she would tease me about that forever._

_But, I mean just look at this story. It's so manufactured. These older versions are obviously being steered towards the one I read to Spike._

_Wow, this one even explicitly names the alicorns as Celestia and Nightmare Moon._

_Oh, this one's interesting. Discord was defeated by Celestia and her sister Luna. With…the Elements of Harmony? That's a new one. How old is this?_

_No date, eh? Well that's fine. You know, now that I think of it, I always took it for granted that calling herself a diarch meant that the ponies were her coruler or something. I mean, she won't even stand to be addressed as a queen. The whole princess thing is just silly._

_Well, anyways, I suppose that's enough information to turn my wild accusations into regular accusations._

Twilight glanced at a nearby clock in the windowless room. The sun would have set long ago and would not be up again for several hours, which meant Celestia was likely snoozing away to get up early to raise the sun.

_Cursed short summer nights._

The fact that alicorns slept at all was intriguing, considering Twilight rarely did. Worse, even. Twilight had learned firsthoof that sleeping alicorns should be left as just that and that no amount of friendship or position or urgency would change it.

She only had one data point, but Twilight had assumed there was only one to be had. It had been a brute force proof that all alicorns should not be woken up early, but now there was a second data point to consider.

_I suppose ending an evil moon goddess's banishment early counts as waking her up. That would also be bad._

Twilight paused to consider what she should do with the rest of the night. She probably should get back to her regular archmage work, but she had the opportunity to remain 'researching' a threat to Equestria if she could find anything related.

_I think I remember a scroll or two by a Luna in Celestia's book hoard. What was it called again?_

Twilight taxed her magically enhanced memory for the obscure book title. She kept telling herself to spend more time with Celestia's secret stash of books but never got around to it between Spike, her duties, and her research.

_Oh, yes. It was _Entering the Dream Realm_. That sounds very, very sinister. I'll just have to give it a read to determine if it's relevant or not._

* * *

Twilight glanced up from Luna's book – surprisingly a book, not a scroll – and noticed the sun had somehow come while she was reading and was about to leave again.

Uttering a curse at herself, she placed a bookmark and deposited the book into her sub-dimensional storage, or simply her bag of holding as it was commonly known despite the lack of any kind of bag being involved in the process. Items simply appeared from and disappeared into empty space on demand.

Of course, Twilight did not need bookmarks, but she liked placing them all the same. There was something deeply satisfying when she looked at a stack of books and could see her progress in them all at once.

As for the book itself, _Entering the Dream Realm_ was fascinating. Although she could imagine Luna's writing would usually be seen as beyond saving, Twilight felt a kindred spirit in how succinctly she phrased everything: instructional manuals should be as short as possible.

Unfortunately, that level of density required a lot more effort to understand and prevented Twilight from rocketing through the text as she normally would. She barely made it through the first three chapters in sixteen hours and there were five more ahead.

There was good news. Luna had placed all of the critical information at the front and left all of the applications for afterward. Apparently, everypony had their own special world they could enter from their dreams with enough practice. Twilight did not manage to get to why the world was so special, but it was obvious it was more than just a lucid dream.

It was obvious because entry was only permitted from a lucid dream. In fact, the entire second chapter was made up of tips and tricks for learning to lucid dream. All of which were small habits that made it easy to distinguish dreams from reality. Things Twilight could do, and planned to do, without comment.

About to teleport as near to Celestia's room as she could, Twilight suddenly remembered something important she had completely forgotten.

"Spike!"

Twilight altered the destination of her teleport to her tower and was immediately taken there. From the kitchen, she could hear Spike making supper. Based on the crackling noises, he was likely roasting something with his own fire despite Twilight explicitly telling him not to do that at least a hundred times.

Unless he was cooking at Prince Blueblood's. Then he was both permitted and should.

Heading into the kitchen, she came face to face with Spike holding and incriminatingly smoking meal on a stick. Spike glanced back and forth between Twilight and a pile of similarly smoking sticks with various foods skewered on them.

Hesitantly, Spike held forth the latest kebab and asked, "Hungry?"

Still feeling guilty about being gone all day without a word, Twilight took the offered meal and sampled it.

"This is pretty good" – Spike looked hopefully at Twilight – "but you're still in trouble." Twilight took a few more bites. She had skipped breakfast and lunch and the first bite had made her realize she was starving. "Now tell me why you're in trouble. Again."

"Ugh. Because even if the castle is fireproof, it's not dragonfireproof. But–"

"And how many walls had to be rebuilt the last time the castle caught fire?"

Spike mumbled something incoherently.

"I didn't hear you."

"Twenty-seven," Spike said meekly.

"And how many needed replacing anyway?"

"Ugh…" Spike rolled his eyes in a huff. "Negative three."

"Right. We had to build three new walls because somepony damaged the foundation. Now ask yourself what happens if this tower catches fire."

"It…falls down and sets everything else on fire…"

"Exactly. Try to remember that right away next time. And no that does not mean it's okay to roast food elsewhere in the castle."

Motioning for Spike to do the same, Twilight took a seat and finished off the kebab he had given her. She grabbed another and polished it off in the time it took Spike to get through one.

"So, I don't know what I'm going to do with you yet, but I have to eat and run to catch Celestia before she goes to bed. Do you need anything before I go?" Spike shook his head. "Alright, sorry I wasn't around at all today. I'll see you tomorrow."

After a quick hug, Twilight teleported to the base of her tower's staircase. It was a short walk from there to Celestia's room through several wards that prevented teleportation. Unlike Twilight's tower, where teleports were allowed if you knew the correct magical signature, Celestia's room was completely locked down.

Although, somehow Celestia managed to completely ignore the teleport blocks with a modified version of the spell. Twilight had no idea how it worked or how to cast it. All she knew was that it dissolved Celestia into light and her teacher always evaded giving an explanation.

The former was not particularly unusual; teleport signatures varied from pony to pony. Twilight's own signature had originally been purple and red colored sparkles, but she had eliminated those defects, along with a few others, long ago.

The latter, however, was highly irregular. There were only two other questions Celestia had refused to answer for Twilight. The first was reasonably understandable. With Twilight's parents more or less out of the picture during her early teenage years, she had walked right up to Celestia and asked for an explanation of sex.

Apparently, centuries of life do not dull a pony's sensitivity to the subject.

She had tried figuring out the answer on her own, but the Canterlot Archive librarians had been dead set on preventing Twilight from obtaining any relevant information.

The other question was 'why are you the only alicorn?' In hindsight, Twilight probably should have known that would be a bad question to ask for many, many reasons, and now she knew why.

The two royal guards posted outside Celestia's chambers saluted Twilight as she approached.

"Is Princess Celestia in?" Twilight inquired of the guards.

"Not at this time, Archmage Twilight Sparkle. She is currently indisposed but will return within a quarter hour."

"Very well, I shall wait inside then."

The grand double doors parted to let Twilight enter the room. The room was as sparse as usual reflecting how rarely Celestia used it for anything other than sleeping. A huge cloud bed easily capable of fitting four ponies Celestia's size lay in the center of the room.

A few other fixtures filled the room, mostly decorative. Most of Celestia's treasure hoard was stored in the doubly restricted section of the library, which only she and Twilight had access to; in the treasury; or held in her own bag of holding.

Passing on the relatively uncomfortable chairs, Twilight fell onto the bed which was somehow even softer than her own. Celestia had told Twilight on one of the many occasions they slept together when she was still a filly, that the cloud-walking spell could not do a cloud bed justice. Twilight was still very skeptical about that, especially considering how relaxed she was right now after spending all day sitting on a hard library chair.

It couldn't hurt to rest for a few minutes…

* * *

Twilight awoke from a weird nightmare, one more surreal than scary, to the gentle nuzzles of Celestia. The alicorn was curled up on the bed next to Twilight and presumably had been the one to place a blanket on her and a pillow under her head.

"Huh…" Twilight said, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I think the same question could be asked of you. This is highly inappropriate. If you want to spend the night together, you should bring Spike with you."

A few sleep filled moments later, it hit Twilight that she had fallen asleep in Celestia's room.

"Oh. That's not why I'm here. I don't even remember falling asleep. It's only been" – Twilight pulled a clock from her bag of holding – "twenty-eight hours since I woke up last."

Celestia shook her head, obviously disappointed. "Such a shame. You are so cute when you sleep. And clingy."

Twilight facehoofed. She had tried to kick the habit several times, but it never went away. Even Spike had caught the infection.

"I'm not a filly anymore."

"You can say that when you get as big as I am."

"Fine. Look, I'm trying to build up a sort of righteous indignation here and you're giving me more of a petty indignation."

Head tilted to the side, Celestia gave Twilight a curious look. In response, the story book appeared and quite obviously surprised the alicorn.

"Let's start with why you never told me about your sister, Luna. A sister, I might add, that is due to return in about three weeks and in the best case just wants to kill you. Worst case she's totally insane from being banished to solitary confinement for a thousand years and wants to destroy the world.

"I reluctantly admit I do not know how long an alicorn can deal with being completely isolated, but I would be willing to bet the crazy sets in just as quickly as it does for any other pony."

Twilight raised a hoof to keep Celestia from interrupting. "After that we can discuss why you felt the need to get Spike to bring this book to my attention by misshelving it instead of just talking to me directly.

"And _then_ we can move on to discussing what you plan to do about this, because I know every single magical artifact in the vault by heart, and we do not have these Elements of Harmony. And don't tell me you plan to fight her, because it seems an awful lot like she can kick you to the curb any day of the week.

"And especially don't tell me your plan is to let your archmage stumble onto this book, go on a random quest, and figure everything out herself, because you've had a thousand years to get on this."

Twilight finished her speech, satisfied with its level of indignity, but wished it had been less of a personal attack. Celestia had gone from smile to frown nearly instantly, but looked sad rather than angry.

The two mares lied down on the bed again at Celestia's advice that this would take a while.

"So, I think it will be easier to start with that book. I have not seen it or even thought about it in…at least a century now."

Twilight eyed her suspiciously. "It would be completely in character for you to plant such a zany scheme."

"I have laid _other_ related plans that are, as you say, in character for me, but that book is not one of them. However it got to you, I was not involved beyond pushing the narrative in certain directions."

"Let's say I believe you. That just leaves me all the more concerned that you didn't feel the need to talk to me about this. I do like hearing you have plans though. Would you mind sharing?"

Celestia looked away. Biting her lip, she said something inaudible but Twilight could have sworn she heard the word 'power'.

"Please, oh please tell me you didn't just say 'transfer of power.'"

When no response came, Twilight shouted, "You're kidding me! You had a thousand years! A thousand! That wasn't long enough to think of _something_?"

"I– I just– There's nothing–" Celestia sniffed.

_Celestia sniffed? Did– Did she really just do that?_

Looking closely, Twilight could see her friend was holding back tears.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean– Well, I did, but that was unfair of me."

"It's okay, Twilight. I've been crying at night anyways."

Each gave a moment to let that awkward comment pass.

"Anyway, the best I came up with is to make the transition peaceful."

"Couldn't you just make yourself more powerful? Like what Luna did?"

Celestia shook her head. "I could have, but it would not have been likely for me to come out the other end sane. Even if I recovered, Eque–the world would have had to endure me for a long time."

"What about banishing her again? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we know exactly when her banishment will end and where she will return? My understanding of the spell is that she'll be completely defenseless when she returns."

"That won't work either. The spell is resistible, at least with enough power. Without a boost from the elements it would fail and turn into a fight and I'd end up banished anyway."

Twilight really didn't like suggesting this, but it had to be said. "You could just…kill her. If she's really beyond saving that is," Twilight appended.

"Nay. Even if I had the ability to, I'm sure I would not at the moment of truth. I hope everyday that somehow she's gotten better, but as you said, her banishment…my banishing her has probably broken her in one way or another. I– I couldn't talk her down before. I tried. I tried so hard. But I couldn't–"

Celestia was actually crying now. It wasn't an open wail, but the tears were coming all the same.

"I'm a horrible big sister! It was all my fault! Luna would ha–"

A hug from Twilight cut off Celestia's self-destruction. The huge alicorn wept awkwardly on Twilight's shoulder like a fully grown pony seeking comfort from a foal.

"Just let it all out and then we can talk about what happened."

Shrinking herself down to a Twilight sized alicorn that fit much better in her forelegs. Her mane and tail transitioned from an ethereal rainbow pattern to a simple bright pink. The change surprised Twilight, but there was nothing unusual about shapeshifting so she let it pass unremarked.

After a few minutes of pouring her heart out, Celestia managed to recover to a mere runny nose but didn't change back to her normal form.

"So," Twilight started, "what is it that you're blaming yourself for?"

"How much do you know about Discord?"

"Um… God of chaos, defeated by you and Luna, in the gardens, looks weird. That's about it."

"And King Sombra?"

"No idea."

"Sigh… Discord has a nasty spell that changes a pony's personality. The elements are extremely effective against him, so we managed to win with little effort once we actually managed to pin him down. He was harder to catch than you were in that game of teleport tag we had, but not by much."

Twilight began to feel uneasy, not because of what had already happened, but by how quickly she was putting the pieces together herself. If an ambitious ancient king wanted to get two goddesses out of the way, what better way then to have them destroy each other?

It would have to be done slowly and subtly, or one or both of the sisters would notice. The younger sister would be easier to bring to ruin in a world that didn't appreciate the night.

That was exactly the kind of plan Twilight knew she would have used if she were in King Sombra's place.

"So then," Twilight began, "I take it King Sombra repurposed Discord's spell and hit Luna with it to get you two to kill each other."

"Yes, though the spell was as different from the original as a butterfly is from a caterpillar. King Sombra's version didn't change a pony's personality, but sort of implanted one that occasionally…thinks for you. What I mean is, it would give you a thought that you would think was your own.

"Sombra was willing to wait years for Luna and I to tear each other apart, but when we discovered the spell we overreacted – after removing it of course – and banished him and the entire Crystal Empire from the face of Equus."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and Celestia noticeably blushed.

"Ehem… While I am divulging information, I suppose I should mention both Sombra and his kingdom are due back in a few years. He's nothing you, or I, or Luna can't deal with, so don't worry about him. The crystal ponies should be…better off than Luna or Sombra. They have a weird sort of empathy thing that…sort of works like a hive mind but for emotions. Sort of. Anyway, that's not important.

"Unfortunately, Sombra's spell had done more damage than either of us realized. Luna became paranoid and spiraled out of control. It got worse as the years came and went with me being the center of politics.

"I'm sure you already understand the cultural differences back then. There were no night clubs, or late night parties, or astronomers, or anything of the sort. I was so busy I didn't even notice–" Celestia took a deep breath to calm herself again. "I did not notice Luna slowly descend into madness."

There was still one important question that needed answering. "What about the Elements of Harmony? How did they play into this?"

"Luna and I worked together to wield them. We each took three and although we could not summon their full strength, we used them effectively in many battles. I could regale you with some of the more peaceful uses we put them to, but that will have to be another time.

"At the end of my final fight with Luna, I took all of the elements to match her expanded power. One pony alone wasn't enough to properly use the elements. All I managed to do was banish her when I wanted to heal her madness."

"So what happened to the elements? I would be hard pressed to believe you lost them."

"They're in the old castle in the Everfree Forest and are heavily warded. I wanted to bring them here, but they…do not like me anymore and I did not want anypony else to know they actually exist after a few generations."

Twilight winced internally. Both she and Celestia kept secrets from each other, but it still hurt when Twilight discovered that Celestia did not want her to know something.

Celestia must have noticed Twilight's disappointment because she quickly amended her statement. "I didn't mean you too! I had a different reason entirely to avoid telling you. I didn't want my sister to feel the need to execute you for possessing Magic."

"What? You can't go around killing every unicorn for having magic. You'd have to kill all of them. And then why not the pegasii and earth ponies too?"

"No, no. Capital m. Bearing an element is a bit…personal. Luna and I ponified our elements. It's… It's just something we did. They're not actually alive or anything."

"But you say they don't like you anymore," Twilight commented, a bit confused.

"The elements are very personal. I mean… Oh, this is so hard to explain."

"Then don't bother. I don't think it's really relevant right now. You said you didn't want me possessing Magic. That means the elements are usable, right?"

"Only recently. The elements are a mystery in how they work, and until about two seasons ago they were just mostly inert lumps of stone after I used them against Luna. They were still active enough to– It's hard to describe really, but they more or less burned my magic when I tried to move them and resisted any means I personally tried to relocate them."

"So they are usable. In that case, why shouldn't I go pick them up right now?"

"Because…"

Celestia trailed off, seeming to play with different words, probably trying to pick a way to explain why Twilight was somehow a wrong choice for the elements.

"Just say it. I promise not to get mad."

"Okay. You are quite possibly the best pick for Magic I have ever met. The problem is, you are also the worst pick to bear an element I have ever met because you have no social skills."

"I get the first part. That makes sense on a very intuitive level. Almost all of my life has been related to magic in one way or another. But I don't get the second part at all. I _have_ social skills. I am just very picky with friendships."

Celestia collapsed on the bed. "That is _exactly_ what I mean. There are six elements, and to wield the elements at full strength, or any strength at all since they still need to be awakened, six ponies are needed that embody the particular element they would bear. Besides Magic, there's Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. The catch is, everypony needs to be friends."

"Is that all?"

Twilight received a look from her friend that seemed to say 'do you even listen to yourself.'

"Twilight, you are extraordinarily introverted and self-admittedly 'picky'. Ask yourself how many friends you have, right now after 22 years, outside your family."

"…I see your point. But there is surely somepony that would work."

"Yes. There are several choices. But I'd sooner trust them to…" Celestia seemed utterly defeated by her attempt at wordplay. "Now that I think of it, I don't think I would trust them to do anything at all. I would probably be in the sun and Luna locked up in the moon again if I gave any one of them the elements."

"You have to be exaggerating."

"I wish I were," Celestia spat as if the words were poison. "Something about the life of the powerful mage seems to be attractive only to hermits and ponies with an insatiable thirst for power."

Making a sucking sound, Twilight dramatically finished, "Aaaaah."

The jest managed to elicit a chuckle from Celestia. "You're a special case. Should you gain power equivalent to an alicorn, or even beyond, I would trust you with it."

Twilight should have had some elegant words of thanks for the flattery, but if she did then they were eluding her completely. Instead, she asked, "…Really?"

"…Yes…" Celestia said, obviously worried where this was going.

"Short temper and snap decisions included?"

"Twilight, I can't make you an alicorn. Spike… He's already asked me to. He wouldn't talk to me for for the longest time after that."

"That wasn't what I–" Twilight cut off when she finally processed what Celestia had said. "Did he ask you that on his birthday?" – Celestia nodded – "Excuse me!"

Twilight sprung to her hooves, but was pushed back down by Celestia's magic.

"If you are finally going to talk to Spike about it, do not do it in a rush of emotion."

Desperately trying to think of someway to escape Celestia's grasp, Twilight searched her memory for any useful spells. Quickly reaching the end of the list that wouldn't start a fight she knew she would lose, Twilight turned her attention to thinking of something to say that would hurt Celestia enough to surprise her into releasing her grip.

"**Twilight! Listen!**" Twilight's attention certainly was regained as she took a point blank hit from the Royal Canterlot Voice and Celestia's hooves forced her to look the alicorn in the face. "You are making a snap decision _right now_! Calm yourself."

Her own words thrown back in her face, Twilight shuddered.

"Better?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah… Mostly."

Celestia released Twilight. "Good. Spike is not going anywhere. Take your time. Now what was it you were going to ask?"

"Oh– Um– Well, I'd like you to explain how you manage to exist. You're too magically dense. You should explode and take out Canterlot with you."

"Oh," Celestia said flatly, "I do not know the answer to that."

"Remind me again, who was it that bore The Element of Honesty?"

"Now that is just a low blow. Besides I had Loyalty and Generosity. That's almost equivalent."

"Ugh. Fine. But at least give it some thought. I would really appreciate hints. But putting that aside, we should probably get back on topic. Actually, could you give me a while to think about what we've talked about?"

Getting a nod from Celestia, Twilight divided her thoughts into the usual three debaters.

_So, _Overseer said, _Celestia has had a thousand years to come up with solutions. Any new ones we come up with either have to hinge on relatively recent information she would not have had time to dwell upon or have to depend on things we can change about ourself. I leave the floor to you two._

_First, let's identify the worst case scenario, _said Opposition.

_Everypony dies._

_Yes, that's really creative Advocate, now elaborate on that._

_Okay. Luna breaks free. Banishes or kills Celestia. Kills us. Subjects Equus to eternal night. Freezes it. Everypony dies. Obviously we have to intervene before the 'kills us' portion of that._

_What options do we have available?_

_The Elements of Harmony._

_We're looking for alternative solutions here. If you're not going to offer meaningful solutions we'll replace you with a different personality._

Overseer stepped in, _No personal attacks, Opposition. We're all the same pony here._

_My point still stands._

_Well – _Advocate thought for a moment, deciding if she even wanted to share – _we could always throw away our life ambition and use the power source to banish, or maybe even heal, Luna ourselves._

_I fundamentally object to that unless we are, or are about to be, killed. Please come up with something we won't regret until the end of a short, miserable life._

_Why couldn't we just redevelop the power source? Solidified magic can be manufactured._

_Not at the rate we would need it to be. If we lived to three hundred and shifted the entire economy of Equestria over to producing solidified magic, we might have enough to shenanigan sufficient power if we had two alicorns helping and whatever boost the elements provide. Needless to say, that is a ridiculously bad plan._

_Alright, point taken. The next option is we fight Luna ourselves._

_That won't work either. Celestia is our combat senior by centuries, even with the Alicorn Accord barring her – and us now for some stupid reason – from taking the field. We can trust her when she says she couldn't win a fight which means we won't be able to either no matter how clever and tricky we think we are._

_But we have a huge advantage, Opposition._

_And that is?_

_The end of the banishment. Luna will be completely undefended. Surely we could work _something _out with that._

_Then why wouldn't Celestia have thought of it?_

_Sisterly love maybe? She didn't want to kill Luna._

_While true, she also implied that alicorns are indestructible._

_When did she do that?_

_She said she didn't have the ability to kill her sister. I provide further evidence in the residual existence of Discord. There was no reason to leave him alive but he's in the gardens, sealed away in a statue. It would seem that their agelessness would be more appropriately referred to as immortality proper._

_Alright, but we don't have to kill her. What if we just kept her asleep or otherwise occupied until we got the elements ready? _

_Now that is a good idea, Advocate. But there's a problem. If she's awake, Luna could brute force counter everything with enough time. If she's asleep, and by no means would we necessarily be able to get a sleep spell of any kind to work on her for the same reasoning, then we have another problem. She can walk into other ponies's dreams and sabotage us one way or another through others._

_So what? It wouldn't be that hard to hide her away in a random location twenty kilometers underground._

Overseer banged an imaginary gavel and called the two to attention. _You are getting more and more off topic. If this were an option, Celestia would have come up with it. Please stick to plans revolving around ourselves and recent information._

_Overseer has a point, Advocate. What else do you have?_

_Well, we could minimize the damage of Luna taking over. If the world were plunged into a state that would kill us, we would have no choice but to banish Luna. We could tell her the backup plan. And of course mention that we have a convoluted system in place to make sure it happens if we are killed. That would keep eternal night away. We might even be able to reform her over a few years, or decades…or centuries…without the elements._

_I see. That's not an optimal solution, but it would work as a backup. Other ideas?_

_I'm dry. Excepting getting the elements working. We could try being…friendly._

All three imaginary personalities and Twilight herself shuddered at once.

_I hate you so much, Advocate. Is that really the only plan you can come up with to work on before Luna returns?_

_If I randomly think of any at some later point then I'll mention them, but for now, yes._

_Sigh… Alright, let's work out the specifics._

_I request more information._

Twilight broke out of her conversation with herself. Every time she merged back into one coherent pony, she always felt a profound sense of death and rebirth and this time was no exception. She stared confused at the world around her that she had completely forgotten as she imagined her three personas. It felt wrong, as if Twilight had awoken and found herself in a dream.

Not bothering to explore that feeling any longer, as always, Twilight shook it off and asked Celestia for more information about the elements.

"Anything in particular you need to know about them?" Celestia asked.

"Well, you said they run on friendship. That would be a good place to start."

"It is really as simple as that. The elements are more effective the deeper the bonds run between the bearers.

"They also work better the more bearers you have. When I used them myself, they barely worked. Luna and I together managed to make them work decently. From the poorly documented pre-Discordian era, I have found that there have been bearers before us and the records seem to support the 'more is better' idea."

"And how many would we need to sort out Luna?"

"All six. If you are wondering how I managed alone–"

"No, I got it. You're an alicorn. Basically, you cheated." Ignoring Celestia's look, Twilight continued, "You said that the elements needed to be awakened. What does that mean?"

"I am not terribly sure. My best guess is that when an element meets somepony it likes, it will retake its true form and bond normally with the pony."

"Does that mean they can't be traded or loaned?"

"More or less. An element can be lent to another pony at greatly reduced power. It certainly would not be enough to heal or banish Luna."

"Then how picky are the elements for finding a pony they like?"

"I have no idea. The requirement is that the bearer must embody their element."

"And that means…"

"Basically it is something they truly value. For example, the bearer of Honesty could lie often and may be very good at lying, but it would be very bothersome. The key point is a strongly internalized preference for honesty, not because it is the best choice or because it is the moral norm. That is about the best I can give you without beginning to speculate wildly."

"Alright, last question. Does it have to be friendship in the usual sense of the word, or would a rivalry, student-teacher relationship, romance, et cetera be sufficient?"

"I would imagine any kind of strong relation would work so long as the feelings were positive. So a friendly rivalry would be fine, but a bitter one would not be."

Twilight gave her thanks and returned to her world of thought.

_So, it would seem that the other five elements are a non-issue compared to getting us to like them,_ said Advocate. _Are we willing to try behavior altering spells?_

_No, _both Opposition and Overseer said at the same time. Opposition then continued, _Besides, that would almost certainly make the elements 'not like' us which would ruin the whole plan._

_That's fair._

_So the question is 'where can we make friends?' because it certainly isn't Canterlot._

_Well, since we're going to cobble together a group of random ponies, and everypony has to like each other, it would be easiest to integrate into an already existing social…group…_

Advocate facehoofed, or at least gave the impression she did, as the obvious group of five came to mind.

_Shining, Cadance, Mom, Dad, and Spike are a solid set of five all already friendly with each other and myself. We even have an extra in Star Charmer._

_That's brilliant! _Opposition exclaimed, for once completely on board. Nonetheless, it was her job to poke holes in ideas. _Why wouldn't Celestia have thought of that? No, that's not the right question. Of course she thought of that. Why does she think that won't work? Spike's not a pony, but again we have Star Charmer in the unlikely event that matters. We have six of us. I fulfill that pesky Magic role, and…oh._

_You think our family isn't good enough for the elements? How could–_

Overseer banged her imaginary gavel again. _I said, no personal attacks. It's not productive._

_Fine. But do explain yourself, Opposition._

_Look, an element not liking somepony isn't necessarily a bad thing. For instance, too much generosity can lead a pony and everypony they love to ruin. As for our family specifically, we don't really have a case for them. Maybe loyalty for Spike with our recent…revelation, but I think we would all like to keep Spike out of this if we can._

A general feeling of assent came from the other two before Opposition continued. _We might be able to make a case for Cadance with kindness or Shining for loyalty, but neither feels quite right. I think the former is more a function of her obsession with love. The latter is more directed towards his country and it's not the Element of Honorable Fealty. And before you start getting upset, all of the elements are generally positive character traits, but that doesn't mean a pony has to be defined by one or more to be good or interesting or whatever._

_That's true. We might as well just trot around trying everypony and if an element awakens, proceed to acquire a friend._

_So, putting the family circle on hold for now as a backup plan, where can we find a large group of ponies that we can pluck out five random element bearers and expect them to already be friends?_

_Are you really asking that, Opposition? If you phrase it like _that _then you should already know the answer._

The gavel came once again. _I will not have you two squabbling like that or you'll drive us insane eventually. Advocate, it's your job to come up with the ideas so do it._

Advocate would have rolled her eyes if she had any. _We go to a small town where everypony knows everypony. But large enough that introducing ourselves will be seen as positive. The closest town to the old castle would be…Appleloosa? No, Ponyville is closer on the other side of the Everfree. Problems?_

_Well, there would certainly be a different culture there than in Canterlot. We'd at least have a chance. But…farm ponies… I don't know if we could suffer five farm ponies._

_Oh, be nice. Not every pony in Ponyville is a farm pony. And besides, we've never talked to one. We may even decide to give up everything and live on a farm._

Silence engulfed all three fragments of Twilight as the statement was processed. Then all at once, each one burst into laughter at the absurdity of Archmage Twilight Sparkle, greatest spellcaster since Star Swirl the Bearded, living the life of a farmhoof.

_Okay, maybe we won't become a farmer. My point still stands though. And think about it. Do we really want to go to Appleloosa? Yanhoover? Et cetera._

_No, not at all. Especially Appleloosa. I swear, if we have to 'round up' one more 'bandit' and throw them in the 'hoosegow', we're going to lose it._

_Alright, so we're in agreement. The plan for now is to go socializing in Ponyville. As a bonus, we get to dump all of our responsibilities on Celestia._

Twilight recovered her sense of oneness, once more shaking off some esoteric emotions.

"Okay, we've–I've come to a conclusion. I really wish you would have brought this to my attention the moment the elements became usable. It would have been much easier to make friends in half a year than in three weeks."

"…Are you going to insist on this folly? You're walking to your doom instead of trying to help the world after I'm gone."

"Wow, you really have no confidence in me. Am I really _that _bad? No, you don't need to answer that. I'm going to try anyway, and I do have a bit of a backup plan that will keep me alive so you don't need to worry about that."

"A backup plan? Against Luna? What could you possibly–"

"Celestia, we both have our own secrets we would rather not share. There is a backup plan, and that's all I'm really willing to say.

"On a more cheerful note – for me – I'm going to dump all of my duties on you for the next three weeks while I take a vacation. Ponyville sounds pretty nice this time of year. Who knows, maybe I'll even make a friend or five."

Celestia shook with mirth at the sudden tone shift. "Alright, but if you are giving me that much work, you are going to take over the Summer Sun Celebration this year."

"That's a perfect cover! I can have a legitimate reason to be there. What do you think of using Index Code for a disguise?"

"She would be a good pick. Not too young or too old to alienate anypony and we've used her enough that she could reasonably be set up as the overseer. What's so funny?"

Twilight was giggling at the word overseer. "Nothing. Bit of an in-joke with me, myself, and I." Twilight was now rolling around with laughter. The red showing through her purple coat let Celestia know she was quickly losing her breath.

"Right… So, after this, I think we shall need to retire Index Code."

"Y–Yeah, s–s–sure. Oh– Oh, wow. That was good. I don't often set myself up for such quality jokes."

"When do you plan to leave and when is Index going to leave?" Celestia asked, completely ignoring Twilight's self-praise.

"I'll leave tomorrow, and Index will leave the day after. We'll have plenty of time to shuffle my work around."

Twilight was suddenly taken with an idea that was too good to pass up. "I think I have an idea for a replacement too. An old acquaintance that runs a Manehattan business very well."

"I can not believe my ears. Did you just suggest you have a friend I do not know about?"

"Oh, no need to tease. And no, not really. I have been meaning to try to make friends with her for a few years, but I keep running away right before I talk to her. Even I realize that I've been kind of creepy – borderline stalker – about the whole thing. This will be a good practice run for Ponyville."

"This isn't a potential lover, is it? The last thing you need before you try making friends is a romance or a heartbreak."

Twilight quickly, loudly, and vigorously denied any such intentions.

"It's okay you know. I never had a problem with any kind of love and gender is meaningless when you know the polymorph spell."

"I'm telling you, it's not like that at all."

"Luna once said there's no sex like shapeshifter sex."

"She's twenty-two years older than me!"

"So? We both know that with your magic you shall live to at least one and a half centuries, if not three. You shall have to date outside the usual pool eventually."

"I don't have to date _ever_. I'm not interested. And what happened to the ancient mare that was too embarrassed to even tell me how sex worked?"

"That was different."

"Ugh! I think I'm done here." Twilight made her way to the doors with indignant strides. "I'll bring her to you tomorrow if I can get her to agree to suffer my job."

Twilight opened the doors, shouted, "Good night!" in a huff, and slammed them behind her. The guards on duty hurriedly moved out of the archmage's way as she fumed off down the hall and teleported away at the edge of the wards.

* * *

Twilight appeared in the cool night sky above Manehattan. Although the strong winds did not blow her around, they did bite her and encouraged her to finish her string of teleports.

A pegasus's ability to tolerate high-altitude travel had always amazed Twilight, even if it was just their natural magic protecting them. It was such a hassle to set up similar protections, especially on short teleport trips, so they were usually forgone.

The building Twilight was looking for stood tall to her side, but by no means dominated the other surrounding skyscrapers. While she could have taken the effort to slip through the security wards, Twilight didn't feel like bothering so she teleported to the ground and entered the building the normal way.

Security made a fuss when Twilight tried to enter, but it did not take long before one of them recognized either the archmage herself or the torc of her office she wore. After that, she was practically waited on hoof, horn, and wing through the lobby to the elevator at which point Twilight grew tired of the attention and politely told them to buck off.

A very surprised and nervous lift pony asked Twilight which floor she desired and soon the steady hum of the thaumtech lift carried her to the twenty-eighth floor. After arriving, she gave the lift pony a generous tip along with instructions to inform security she would be teleporting out later.

The hallway Twilight stepped into was mildly lavish but tasteful. The carpeting was a cheaper, but still quality, imitation of the sort high ranking nobles were fond of. A few paintings lined the wall between doors leading to individual condominiums and the window at the end of the hall offered a stunning view of the night cityscape.

None of this was surprising. Twilight had tracked down her first mentor through semi-legal means long before being made archmage and had discovered she had done well for herself.

Twilight also had never worked up the courage to talk to her, but today was different. Twilight was a mare on a mission this time and would not be stopped by her own petty fears. At least that's what she thought before stopping just short of knocking.

_Oh, come on, Twilight! You are pathetic! Even if she doesn't remember you, it's not like we can't be friends anyway. She won't slam the door in your face. Her dossier showed she hasn't changed much since you met her. She's nice. Realistically, the worst case is you pull rank to force her to talk to you and then she throws you out._

…

_Okay, maybe I need to work on my pep talks._

A few more moments of self-deprecation passed before Twilight forced herself to knock so timidly on the door that even her magically enhanced hearing could not pick up the sound.

Disappointed in herself, Twilight let her head fall and accidentally hit the door with it. Startled by the accidental one, she promptly followed it with a normal series of raps.

Twilight waited, a nervous mess in the silence that followed. She was about to run out of times 'she must be asleep' would keep her from panicking, when she heard a small crash from inside. A female voice followed it and said, "Oh, horseapples! Could you get the door?"

The door soon opened and an earth pony stallion stood in the doorway. His dark blue coat complemented his orange mane and tail well and the yellow streaks blended in with the orange gave him a wild look for his age. His nebula cutie mark revealed him to be an avid star gazer as Twilight had been told.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met before," Astral Gust said.

"We haven't," Twilight deadpanned. "I need to talk to Daisy."

Astral Gust eyed Twilight suspiciously for a moment, but invited her inside. He led her through the foyer into the well furnished living room. He then left to fetch tea for both of them and an extra cup for his wife when she finished sorting out whatever it was Twilight had heard crashing earlier.

Until he returned, Twilight was left alone to investigate Daisy's personal life in more detail. There were plenty of photos on display detailing her past, but Twilight already knew most of it. What she wanted was current information, but very little seemed to be available. She found a few minor awards on display that hadn't appeared in the dossier, but the only really new thing she learned was Daisy's eldest foal had married recently.

Disappointed, Twilight sat down and waited for her host to return. He soon reappeared with the promised tea and took a seat across from Twilight.

"So, how do you know Daisy?"

"She gave me some good advice when I was younger."

A silence descended that was no doubt very awkward for Astral Gust but which left no impression on Twilight who was used to attempts at small talk fizzling around her. A few rounds of drinking passed before Astral Gaze broke the silence.

"Erm… Now that I think about it, you seem kind of familiar. I suppose I should have asked earlier, what is your name?"

"I usually go by Twilight."

"I'm Astral Gust, by the way. Daisy's husband. I'm sure you already knew that though."

Astral Gust stared into his tea and swirled it around. He mouthed the name 'Twilight' as if tasting it, and then he faced Twilight in sudden recognition.

"Twilight Sparkle the archmage? Dear Celestia, is there anything I can do for you? I– We don't have anything near what must be your standards. Is the tea okay? Oh, no! Daisy's not in trouble or danger, is she?"

Twilight sighed and took another sip of her tea. It was always annoying when ponies overreacted like this. Especially when she was trying to get a meal. Donut Joe was probably the only pony she would ever get to treat her as a regular customer when undisguised, and that stallion of mystery shouldn't really count considering the flirting.

"Calm down, Astral Gust. This is mostly a personal visit. Nopony's in any more danger or trouble than usual for Manehattan."

Visibly relieved, Astral Gust excused himself to see what was keeping Daisy. Twilight was perfectly content to wait, but he insisted. Behind several walls, Twilight could hear Daisy protesting being forced into formal attire but was meeting with little success against her husband's onslaught.

Soon, Daisy was pushed into the living room looking a bit out of place as the only pony wearing formal attire apart from the torc Twilight always wore. Astral Gust then excused himself to give the personal visit the privacy it deserved.

"You can drop all of the formal clothes if you want," Twilight said, and pointed to her ears. "I have exceptional hearing."

Daisy blushed a bit but accepted the offer and shed all of the extra clothes and jewelery that had been forced upon her. Once it was all discarded, she sat down next to Twilight far enough away to seem respectful but not so far as to seem disrespectful.

Twilight had hoped that Daisy would not be familiar with such courtly niceties, but what really put the nail in the coffin as when Daisy said, "What brings you here, Archmage Twilight Sparkle?"

This certainly wasn't the worst case scenario, realistic or otherwise, but Twilight was saddened with the formalism in Daisy's manner. Though she tried not to show it, Daisy must have seen through her poker face.

"Or just 'what brings you here, Twilight?' if you would prefer."

"I would. Very much so. Do– Do you, perchance, remember me?"

"Of course I do. I met a princesses and a goddess because of you. That's not a day a pony forgets without magic. Although, I must admit I mostly had forgotten you until the announcement was made that Equestria had an archmage for the first time in centuries. I was so excited when I realized who it was."

Twilight curled into a ball in embarrassment and sputtered completely nonsense for a while.

_Celestia was completely right. I have no social skills. I can't even look her in the eyes anymore._

Daisy said something too good to be processed.

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'would you like to be friends?'"

"Yes! Yes! Oh, yes!" Twilight shouted pouncing on Daisy and delivering a huge hug to the flat-hoofed mare. The act almost knocked both of them off the couch and onto the floor but Twilight managed to save them at the last second.

Remembering she wasn't with Celestia or her family, Twilight released her grip and backed away from Daisy, hoping she wasn't upset. "I'm so sorry. I– My family has always been affectionate and Celestia is too so–"

"It's fine. I often wish my own foals were so cuddly."

"Oh, um…" Twilight didn't know what to say to that so she changed the topic. "How did you know I wanted to be friends?"

"My second filly, Crafted Pen, is shy too. Maybe not as shy as you seem to be, but I've learned to pick up on the signals you send. So I'd bet it'll be a bit embarrassing, but would you mind telling me how long it took you to come here?"

"Um… Since I learned where you were…about a decade…"

"…Wow," Daisy said, clearly impressed, if perhaps in a bad way. "You are a _real_ problem foal."

"B–But I've been busy. I had magic to learn, a country to run, Spike to raise, and–"

"What was that last one?"

"Spike to raise?" Twilight was confused why that in particular would draw Daisy's attention. Raising colts was difficult, even if Twilight had a lot of help, as Daisy would well know from raising one and two fillies herself.

And then it occurred to Twilight that her new friend might not know Spike's origin story and she started rattling off the tale of her practical exam and her subsequent adoption of Spike years later.

"So, i–it's not like I went on a se–wild streak during my teens. I've never even– I mean–" Twilight ran out of breath and was finally forced to stop and refill her lungs, letting Daisy get a word in edgewise.

"That's certainly an impressive story. It certainly explains why Princess Celestia took you on as her personal student."

"I never would have gotten to where I am if I never met you when I was so young and impressionable. I don't really know how I can ever thank you."

"You're giving me _way_ too much credit. I was just helping a lost filly. I don't really even remember what I said to you."

"No, really. I would have only learned a bunch of spells without direction. Instead I learned spell composition, analysis, and decomposition. I only managed to hatch Spike's egg because I knew how to pick spells apart.

"I even started research and development before then. I tore spells apart and repurposed them and made small changes and modifications and all that kind of stuff.

"Even now when I have a hoard of spells and the power to brute force almost anything, I still consider my primary talent creativity."

"Okay, fine. I was a big influence on your life, but _only_ that, an influence. You still did all of the hard work."

"B–" Twilight stopped. What Daisy said was probably the best way to describe their relationship. "Okay. Still, I don't know how to thank you for it."

"Twilight, do you expect everypony that looks to you as inspiration to thank you if they live fantastic lives or curse you if they fail horribly?"

"Of course no– Oh."

"So you finally get my point. Good. Though I do appreciate the sentiment." Daisy paused for a moment, perhaps for dramatic effect. "Now, what is it that you've really come here for?"

Twilight already felt fairly guilty that she had come here to ask for a favor when she was known to do nasty things to nobles with the same intention. Having Daisy directly address it just after bonding with each other made Twilight feel so horrible that she wanted to teleport away and pretend she had never come. Of course, she knew she wouldn't be able to face Celestia tomorrow if she did.

"…How did you know?"

"Oh, please. You put this off for ten years. It's far more likely some other reason pressured you here than that you finally worked up the nerve to ask to be my friend."

"Right… You're smart. Sometimes I forget that other ponies can be smart. Sorry about that. As for why I'm here, I need to ask a favor of you. I'm going to be out of Canterlot for three weeks, and we're going to need Celestia to leave Canterlot often as well, so we need somepony to take my place for a while to keep things from falling apart. I'd like that pony to be you."

To say Daisy looked shocked would be accurate, but it would fail to describe just how mentally incompetent she had been rendered.

Twilight elaborated on the perks and difficulties the position would entail and emphasized that she would have the _eternal_ gratitude of Celestia, but as far as she could tell, her words went in one ear and out the other.

About halfway through explaining what would be required of Daisy, she came back to life and said, "You want to make _me_, the barely exceptional mage Daisy Wishes, archmage of Equestria? PTA meetings are the closest thing I have to experience with government work."

"Those are both points in your favor actually."

"I can barely fight to save my life, let alone Equestria."

"I'm actually banned from taking the field by the Alicorn Accord. Don't ask."

"I already have a job."

"You own the company you work for. You can take three weeks off and leave Astral Gust or somepony else in charge. You'd also have the crown ready to send help if needed."

"I have no connections."

"Again, a point in your favor, though you will inherit mine."

"I don't speak any other languages."

"Okay, now you're reaching for excuses. If you don't want the job, just say so."

"I… I don't know. Maybe. Can I sleep on it?"

"We are in a bit of a time crunch, but one night wouldn't hurt. Can I tempt you with a cloud bed? I won't be sleeping for some time still."

"You have one? How does that work?"

"I wear a cloud walking bracelet to bed. Well, really it's one of many enchantments on my torc, so technically it's not a bracelet, but I have plenty of bracelet spares."

Plainly torn between the choices, Daisy suggested, "I would be a fool to refuse the bed, wouldn't I?"

"It is entirely the reason pegasii are considered the laziest of the ponies."

"Can Astral come too?"

"I have no objections so long as you don't ruin my bed."

"I'll go grab him."

* * *

Spike awoke shortly after dawn broke. If Twilight were on her regular schedule, she would be somewhere nearby to wish him a good morning. Spike figured she would still be on a research binge with that book he found, but it would not hurt to search the tower for her.

He started with the common room that Twilight dominated with her mess of books and spell diagrams, but she wasn't there today. She wasn't in the tower's small library, nor was she in the bathroom.

Spike checked the kitchen and unsurprisingly didn't find his mother there. She never cooked for herself and was absolutely terrible at it anyway. He couldn't really complain considering the best chefs in Equestria worked day and night just downstairs. They had no dragons on call though, so anything Spike ordered gem encrusted tasted second rate.

Grumbling about dragonfire roasted gems, Spike checked the last place he would expect to find Twilight. He opened the door to her bedroom and was surprised to find not one, but two ponies in bed.

Almost slamming the door shut, but stopping at the last second, Spike ran downstairs red ear to ear. Despite growing much slower than ponies, Twilight had not felt the need to keep the adult world a big mystery for him. But beyond the awkwardness of walking in on his mom with another pony, was confusion and worry.

Twilight had always been so academic and detached with Spike about the subject, he never imagined she'd actually find a very special somepony. He had heard stories from his friends in elementary school of their parents getting remarried and losing interest in them. Twilight was already busy enough, would she even remember he exists?

Then there were the ponies that were the youngest foal and had so much love and attention until a new one came. Spike just knew he would be completely abandoned if he did not break this up now before his mom started getting attached to whoever she brought home.

But how to do it? Spike's first instinct was to hatch some sort of cunning plan to drive the offender out, but he knew that would just make Twilight upset. In fact, any sort of scheme would probably just make Twilight angry; she much preferred forthrightness.

Spike made himself breakfast while he planned what to say, and when he heard hoofsteps coming downstairs, he moved to intercept them.

He saw a dark blue earth pony stallion walk by, not noticing Spike's approach. Spike thought it was odd that his mom would like an earth pony. He had always assumed that Twilight did not have much interest in things that were not magic or were not casting magic. But then again, he had also assumed Twilight was not interested in romance.

Latching onto the next pony that came down the stairs in a tight hug, Spike began pouring his heart out.

"Mom, don't fall in love or get married or have more foals or anything like that! You don't have enough time for me as it is and you barely sleep! Please! For me!"

The pony he was attached to started laughing in what was definitely not Twilight's voice. Spike opened his eyes to see the coat of the mare he was hugging.

"Mom, you're green? What happened?" Backing up to get a better view, Spike found that he was not talking to Twilight at all.

Probably.

She could be polymorphed.

"You must be Spike," the now obviously not Twilight mare said. "I can see why Twilight enjoyed raising you: you're so adorable."

Spike was almost as embarrassed now that he realized he said all that to not one but two random ponies as he had been that one time Star Charmer had kissed him.

Scooping Spike up into a very one-sided hug, the mare said, "Oh, you're just so cute. If only my own foals were still like this. Astral, can we keep him?"

The stallion, Astral apparently, said, "I don't see why not, so long as it's okay with Archmage Twilight."

"What?" Spike shouted.

"Oh, I'm just teasing you." Releasing Spike, the mare said, "I'm Daisy, a friend of your mother. She said I should ask you to take us to the castle kitchen and then to the council room."

"Um…yeah… I can do that. Just follow me…Daisy and Astral."

* * *

There are only two things a pony needs to know about the Royal Guard.

First, it is a great honor to join the guard. It has an impressive history of performing great deeds and completing noble quests. Only the best of the best can hope to join, and only merit can keep a pony there.

Second, it was very boring. All of that impressive history was just that. History. The Equestria Intelligence Service, or EIS, had largely supplanted most of the Royal Guard's field work over the past century and nopony was stupid enough to attack Princess Celestia.

There had been a brief and shining period where the guard had worked hard to keep a young Twilight Sparkle safe, but she grew strong enough to be as imposing as the princess and no longer required protection.

The last time they had seen action was during the latest Griffin attack, but it was also the 'war' that earned the archmage a mention in the Alicorn Accord. The entire fiasco was over within a week leaving little time for valor. For the time being, the international world was petrified of the 'peaceful' Equestria and wouldn't dare give the Royal Guard a chance to prove itself.

Shielded Strike sighed, drawing Flash Sentry's attention.

"Bored?" Flash asked.

"You can say that again. Some days I don't know why we're even here. I mean, the princess and the archmage could probably just magic up a replacement for us if they really needed it."

"Well, we do keep order just by being here. And we're also here for the other ponies in the castle, not just those two." Flash gave that a moment's thought before laughing a bit. "Well, you are anyways."

"Ugh. Are you still hung up on the archmage? Let her go man. The princess is the one that knows the name of each and every guard. The archmage probably doesn't even know you exist."

"Not at all. She clearly recognized me that last time she threw me out a window. I'm making progress."

"Dude, that is pathetic. How has Captain Armor not thrown you out by now?"

"Simple, Strike. Simple. I do my job well and that's all he cares about when it comes to the job. Privately, he's the most overprotective brother you can imagine, but he respects my love and realizes Twilight's old enough to have a romance. Though I did still get quite a few threats anyways for the usual stuff.

"Besides, he's probably secretly pushing for anypony, if not me specifically, with her being a single parent. It's no secret that the whole family was against that."

A shiver ran through Strike as the wyrmling in question came into view. "Speak of Tartarus, and he shall appear."

Flash knew Strike since the day he joined the guard, but Strike had been on duty far longer. Long enough to have been around in Spike's infancy when uncontrolled dragonfire caused more problems than there was grass in the gardens. From what Flash had heard, many of the older guards still had nightmares of the worse incidents and he was aware that Strike was among them.

Spike alone was nothing to be surprised at. The dragon has free run of the castle and wandered around often. Flash himself had seen him quite often and they even talked from time to time. However, behind Spike trailed a unicorn and an earth pony neither Flash nor Strike had seen before, nor did they possess visitor's passes.

It was standard operating procedure that anypony that a guard could not recognize and did not possess a pass was an intruder and should be arrested. But these two were with Spike, and the archmage was known to ignore procedure despite pleas from her brother.

Seeing Strike too concerned with bad memories, Flash took initiative.

"Err…halt?" Flash requested in what he thought was perhaps the worst example of taking initiative he had ever seen. "Identify yourself. Please."

Spike covered his mouth to keep himself from laughing. "Really, Flash? Halt please? Does it come with sprinkles on top?"

"Oh, har har."

"This is Daisy Wishes," Spike said, gesturing towards the unicorn. "And this is Astral Gust. They're mom's guests. I'm supposed to take them to the council room."

This was a perfect opportunity to talk to Twilight some more, so Flash said, "I'll go see if they're ready for you."

Walking towards the door, Flash was stopped by the spear Strike was carrying in his wing. "I'll go check," he said, looking between the door, Flash and Spike. "For many reasons."

Flash rolled his eyes but agreed to let his shell shocked friend run away from his fear.

"So, what do you two do that you've been invited into the privy council?" Flash asked.

Daisy Wishes replied, "I own a baking company. Pretty well known in Manehattan but not much elsewhere."

"I'm an astronomer," Astral Gust added.

"So pretty much nothing," Daisy Wishes finished. "Twilight wants me to take over her job for three weeks while she goes off to do something else."

"Wha–"

Strike came back through the doors leading to the council room, interrupting Flash.

"Her majesty, Princess Celestia, and her excellency, Archmage Twilight Sparkle, will see you now. The room you want is the third door on the left."

"Thanks," Spike said as he lead the group through the doors into the hall behind.

Once the doors had closed, Flash started complaining. "Strike, get this. My love is going to be gone for a whole three weeks."

* * *

The relatively small, but still big enough for a full sized Princess Celestia, and unadorned door opened to reveal the council room. Rather than the beautiful example of good taste mixed with wealth and important looking noble ponies going about affairs of state Daisy had expected, the room was small and under furnished with only a large round table and accompanying chairs. There were no windows and the only light was cast by oil lanterns.

Astral stumbled on entering and nearly fell over. Daisy herself felt as if some part of her had been wrenched away. Spike, who had entered first, seemed unaffected as did the other two ponies in the room.

Supporting Astral with her body, for her magic wasn't working, Daisy was wondering if it was safe for them to remain in the room when Twilight chastised Spike.

"Spike! You didn't warn them about the wards, did you?"

"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something." Turning to Daisy and Astral, Spike apologized, "It's a little late, but there's _a lot_ of security wards here. I'm a dragon so I don't feel them much. Sorry for forgetting."

"No worries, Spike. We'll manage. You doing alright, Astral?"

"Yeah," Astral replied between deep breaths bordering on ragged. "I could really use a seat though."

Princess Celestia offered the pair their choice of seats and Daisy supported her wobbling husband to the nearest chair directly across from the princess, taking the adjacent one for herself.

Moaning a bit, Astral asked, "Why am I being hit so much worse?"

"Because you're an earth pony, dear. You've never had to walk before without your magic naturally increasing your strength an order of magnitude. Welcome to walking like a unicorn."

"You do this every day? That explains so much. I'm so sorry for complaining about–"

"It's alright, Astral. No apologies needed."

"But still, dear Celestia this is terr–I am so sorry, princess. I didn't mean–"

"It is okay. I am very used to ponies swearing by me both in and out of my presence. If you could keep it to a minimum, I should appreciate it."

"Of course, princess."

"So then," Princess Celestia turned her attention to Daisy, "you must be the archmage replacement Twilight was telling me about."

Daisy nodded, and said, "It is a very great pleasure to be in your presence again, your majesty."

"No need for the formalities," Celestia replied. "They are so very tiring and we are in private. Now, you said again. I can not quite seem to place it, but you are familiar… Can I get a hint, Twilight?"

"Graduation. Twenty…eight years ago."

"Hmm… Oh yes. That would make you Daisy Wishes, correct?"

"You are right, princess."

"Sorry for not recognizing you at first. Not to be rude, but you have grown a bit older."

"I don't mind at all, princess."

Celestia sighed. "You do not have to add 'princess' at the end of every sentence."

"Yes, princess," Daisy said, the message not quite sinking in yet. "Thank you princess." Twilight snickered and Daisy realized she was still doing it. "I mean, thank you."

"So, before we hear your answer to my request," Twilight started, "welcome to The Chambers of the Privy Council™ where practically everything political of interest is decided."

Daisy looked to Astral at the same time he looked to her, silently asking each other if that strange not-quite-sound they heard was real. Celestia had her face in her hooves, so Daisy decided _something_ had happened.

"What…was that…thing?" asked Daisy.

"Ugh… Must you do this with every guest, Twilight?"

"Of course I must. It _is_ the name of this room after all."

"To answer your question," Celestia said, ignoring Twilight for the moment, "What you heard was the result of a joke spell I created centuries ago. Twilight heard it once and begged for days for me to teach it to her. She put the enchantment on no less than four phrases before I told her to stop."

Daisy looked between Twilight who was looking both ashamed and proud and Princess Celestia who was just looking ashamed. "So you mean, anytime, anywhere, anypony says any specific sequence of words…"

"The phrase gets an inaudible trademark added to the end of it. It was my, and more recently Twilight's, first experience with global scale magic. My own casting of the spell was on the phrase The Hoarded Lore of Celestia Herself™. I was…a younger pony back then."

"Not that young," Twilight mumbled, just loud enough for everypony in the room to hear.

Princess Celestia casually pushed Twilight off balance with telekinesis, almost resulting in Twilight falling to the ground. Neither Daisy nor Astral could help but laugh at the pair's antics, even if they were laughing at the two most powerful ponies in Equestria, if not Equus. Naturally, Spike was laughing as well and was no doubt completely at home in the presence of the two.

"I'm still confused," Daisy said, letting her giggles die down. "I guess I can let the power concerns go as having 'deep wisdom' involved, but how is it working inside all of these wards?"

"You–You're interested in that?" Princess Celestia asked, eyes shining. Getting a nod from Daisy, Princess Celestia continued, "Twilight's too smart and keeps figuring things out herself. She never lets me be a proper teacher. So, the basic idea is–"

This time it was Twilight's turn to knock Princess Celestia off balance although the alicorn recovered much quicker with the aid of her wings.

"Later, Celestia. We have a lot to do immediately, and less to do in a week or so. Well, you do at least. My schedule is packed for the next three weeks."

"Alright, fine," Princess Celestia pouted in a very unregal manner. "Twilight has told me that you were undecided on taking the position. Is that still true?"

"Well, Astral and I discussed it, and I would be willing to try, although I don't know if I can actually do the job. It would be nice if I could get more details on exactly what I'd be doing before I committed one way or the other."

"That's no problem," Twilight said. "I don't leave until tomorrow officially, and until the day after unofficially – don't tell – so we can spend today together and have you just observe."

"And what if I decide not to take the job? Will you manage without a replacement?"

"That choice is entirely yours to make," Celestia answered. "We shall not force you in any way. The archmage position is, as Twilight would no doubt love regaling anypony at length describing, very stressful, difficult, magically and physically tiring, often boring, and typically annoying.

"Some of your choices would have far reaching consequences and although I would aid you when I can, you would need to make most decisions by yourself. If anything should get too out-of-hoof, I can step in and fix everything, but minor mistakes would be yours to correct.

"If you choose not to subject yourself to Twilight's work, I can manage it in addition to my own if we can not find another suitable replacement, difficult though it would be.

"However, now that I have sufficiently scared you, on a personal level, I am very eager to get to know the pony my little asocial archmage wants to be friends with."

"You're not really giving me a fair chance to say no, are you?"

"Now what makes you say that?" Celestia asked innocently, smiling widely and invitingly.

* * *

After she ferried Astral Gust home, Twilight spent the rest of the day with Daisy following her around. It had been pretty weird, and Daisy's endless questions while she was working had been grating, but it had been an interesting experience. Plus the shocked expressions the nobles gave her when chatting with Daisy were priceless.

Daisy had helped with some of the paperwork as a test run, so they managed to finish a little early. Just after sunset, Twilight teleported them up to her tower to relax.

Unused to the utter exhaustion she felt, Daisy flopped onto a couch in the common room, disregarding the mess of books strewn over it. On the other hoof, Twilight felt no such exhaustion and set about tidying up the common room by stacking books in corners. Today was a typical day for her and she used the usual magical tricks to keep herself going.

"So, what did you think of today?"

"That was, by far, the most walking I've ever done in a single day," Daisy complained. "How do you manage that day in and day out?"

"Magic. Okay, okay, don't get mad. I can give you a list of spells that would be useful to know. I fairly recently returned from a different foreign excursion so my work is a bit backed up. You'd think being out on official business would excuse me of regular business, but no. When I get this busy I usually teleport everywhere in the castle, but I felt you should have the full experience of what you would be getting into."

"Can't you just teach me to teleport? My hooves are killing me."

"Not in the time we have available. There are other problems, some practical and some political, you'd encounter as well. And there's a _long_ safety lesson that every new teleporter has to go through. Teleporting is very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"Fine. Point made. I tried floating earlier to rest, but I couldn't. I assume there's a ward interfering with my telekinesis. Could I get around that somehow?"

"I'd leave several of the ward spellkeys with the list of spells I'd give you. Along with details of how to add a mostly invisible spell signature to your magic if you don't already know. I'd also have a list of unicorns you shouldn't use them around because they'd be able to learn the spellkeys."

As an afterthought, Twilight added, "There are also some places where the wards are absolute, like the council room, Celestia's room, many of the wards in this tower, et cetera."

"Let me guess. By the time I learn how to bypass security, I'll already be going home."

"Does that mean you're accepting the job?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. I can't leave all that to Princess Celestia with a clear conscience. But, one question. Do you ever sleep?"

"Heh. Yeah, I do. Just much less than the average pony with a lot of magical assistance. You don't need to keep any similar schedule."

Daisy exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Speaking of sleep" – Twilight pulled a watch out of her bag of holding – "it's getting pretty late. Do you have any interesting stories to share?"

"Bedtime stories? At your age?"

"What? No," Twilight denied dramatically. Disappearing in a teleport, she returned with a confused Spike and set him in her lap. Somehow, Twilight was managing to make big, pleading, foallike eyes that were at once both hilarious and extremely convincing.

With a roll of her eyes, Daisy said, "Oh, all right. This is something that happened back when I was at Princess Celestia's school–"


	3. Chapter Two - Ponyville

_The world shook._

* * *

It was midday when Twilight appeared south of the most dangerous natural wonder in Equestria, if not the entire world. The twisted chaotic magic that surged through the Everfree Forest scorched Twilight's horn even from where she stood nearly a kilometer away.

The enchantments she always cast on herself began malfunctioning forcing Twilight to dispel them before any serious harm befell her. With no further spells, for she had dismissed her bag of holding before leaving, under her control, the wrath of the forest receded. It did not vanish, but stood watching for the slightest hint of magic to once more lash out against.

This was the reason the Everfree Forest was feared by nearly every single being on Equus. Magic could be used within it with great difficulty, but there was no telling what the forest would morph the magic into. It was just as likely for a fireball spell to summon a glass of water as it was to turn the caster into a penguin or simply blow up in the caster's face.

Pegasii could not fly, or even stand on a cloud near the Everfree. Earth ponies had it worst, being unable to turn off their magic. If one wandered too close to the forest, it would tear them apart until their magic had been shredded away resulting in death. Few non-pony species fared any better.

The Elements of Harmony would create order and peace in a small area, but they remained locked down in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters by Celestia with every ward against transportation she knew. There were no quick ways in or out of the castle, consequently requiring any visitors to walk.

Thus, it was with great trepidation, that Twilight Sparkle, the archmage who lived and breathed magic, ventured into the Everfree. Twilight would have turned around, teleported back to Canterlot, and told Celestia to pick up the elements herself, whether she could actually touch them in any way or not, if it hadn't been for the princess's promise.

Celestia claimed the old road leading to the old castle still kept the unsavory creatures of the forest at bay. And when Twilight arrived, despite being subjected to the chaos and growth of the forest for nearly a millennium, she found that the path did still exist.

Taking her first step onto the broken brick road being invaded by the greenery of the forest, Twilight felt a sense of calm surround her. The sensation of a cruel and unforgiving forest still encircled her, but on the path at least, it was subdued.

Ever the experimentalist, Twilight couldn't help herself attempting some simple telekinesis.

Instantly, the forest responded. The agony of it eating away at her magic was unbearable. If she had been in any fit state to think, she would have been desperately hoping her screams and thrashing hadn't awakened anything.

Whimpering and crying, Twilight laid on the ground, desperately trying to comfort the intangible part of herself she called her magic as the forest retreated, clearly pleased with the meal.

Several minutes later, but with no regrets, Twilight arose. Preventing herself from reflexively wiping the tears away with telekinesis, Twilight used her forehoof instead and continued down the path.

Aside from the poor start, the journey was relatively peaceful. The road was in terrible disrepair making it difficult for Twilight to keep her balance, and every loose stone she kicked sent her into a panic, but it was still a road. It therefore offered an expeditious trip to the old castle lying at its end. Even the stone arch bridge at the end had weathered the test of time well enough to be utilized.

Ascending the hill just after the bridge, the ruined castle came into Twilight's view. It remained a magnificent structure in the way all old castles were, even with more than half of its towers collapsed in on itself. The forest was in the process of reclaiming the stone as giant ferns and trees grew in between cracks in the masonry.

A massive doorway, long since deprived of a door stood out among the many windows missing their panes. The interior of the castle appeared to be in the same state it presented from outside, though a few tapestries had managed to survive unlike their wooden cousins, the doors.

Stopping just inside the area influenced by the elements, but still outside the castle, Twilight sat down to rest after walking for nearly four hours on the uneven cobblestone road. She wasn't out of shape by any means, but neither was she a star athlete without her enchantments.

It was not long before Twilight again tried working simple magic. Unlike before, the forest did not lash out at her, though she could feel it menacing her beyond the reach of the elements. Satisfied with the initial success, Twilight worked her way up to more complex spells, eventually curing herself of the exhaustion she felt.

Ready again, Twilight stood up and began the worst part of the journey. The forest itself was dangerous, but being eaten was the worst thing that could happen there. The forest was cruel and dangerous, but it did not have intent.

The old castle was also cruel and dangerous, but unlike the forest, it was explicitly designed by Celestia to be so to keep anypony foolish enough to reach it away. The outer wards were simple, warning spells. Essentially practical jokes by the standards of the spells in the heart of the castle despite involving fire, acid, and all manner of other horrible things.

Twilight had been given _very_ specific instructions on how to enter the castle, and she was following them exactly. She still had no spells active except a single one that radiated a friendly signal.

But that was not enough, entry required specific gestures and movements to be performed at specific points. A series of passwords were required to be spoken every five steps and although there were many paths to the throne room, each required a different sequence. Twilight nearly cursed her friend for putting a song on every path, but did not since the wards would probably strike her down the moment she did.

Even having satisfied the wards in every way, they still felt hostile to Twilight. It was not the same primal hunger of the forest, but a calculated feeling of trying to decide whether or not to destroy her.

Glad she came alone, Twilight finished the song and the subsequent dance and reached the entrance to the throne room. Of all the rooms she had passed on the way, the throne room was by far the most intact. Fallen bricks littered the floor, but the windows were only broken, the doors remained, and the giant boulders so common in the rest of the castle were absent.

At the far side of the hall stood two alicorn sized thrones, one with a sun motif and the other sporting a similar design incorporating the moon. In front of the thrones in the center of the chamber stood a large pedestal, clearly not part of the original design, with five outcroppings.

On each outcropping was a hoof-sized, gray sphere and the pedestal itself held a larger stone sphere. Clearly these were the unawakened Elements of Harmony. The one in the middle seemed particularly tantalizing. Twilight figured it was probably the Element of Magic calling to her.

This was where Celestia had laid the worst traps that would kill a pony before a single spell could be cast. Passing them only required knowledge of a name long lost to the ages with the exception of Celestia and now Twilight.

"Dear sister, Luna Ezell Satilus, please forgive me."

The words spoken, the wards finally enveloped Twilight and accepted her as a friend. Twilight immediately recast several of her more useful enchantments including her bag of holding where she intended to store the elements.

_Sigh… That password… Now that I think about it, Celestia's had a thousand years of guilt building up in her. It's impressive that Equestria's running so well, but she has to snap at some point. I really hope that point isn't when her sister returns._

Twilight approached the pedestal and floated herself up to the first element which was out of the reach of an ordinary unicorn. Upon closer inspection, the sphere was hollow and had a few glass-like openings that allowed her to see a small necklace inside, although she could not get a good look at it.

Noticing that the outcropping the element had laid on was labeled Laughter, Twilight created some paper from magic and labeled the element itself before stuffing it away in her bag of holding. Going from element to element, she did the same for each one.

_Hmm… Each one contains a golden necklace. Very light too. I'd love to know how the necklaces are suspended in the center. Oh, hello there, Generosity. Thanks for the better view._

Twilight facehoofed. _Oh, now Celestia has me ponyifying you too. Whatever. What do you have to show me?_

One of Twilight's many assorted light spells flared from her horn as she tried to get a fuller view of Generosity's interior.

_Some kind of dull, gray gem on the necklace. I have no idea what it is…but it's not shiny so nopony cares, right? Yeah. I suppose that makes some sense. Celestia did say the element reflects the bearer's cutie mark, and it's still 'sleeping' so it needs to imprint on somepony._

_Now, that's all the other elements. All that remains is Ma–_ "Argh!"

As Twilight touched Magic, a blinding light like a star descended to Equus spilled forth from it. When it faded, Twilight let her hoof fall back down and saw that where the sphere had been rested a tiara with six-pointed star shaped gems inlaid in it.

_Huh._ Twilight thought, staring idly at Magic. _Unexpected. I get that Magic is sort of like the boss element, but why should it be different? Argh! This is going to be an itch I can't scratch for three weeks. Maybe forever. No, Celestia has no idea how these things work but that doesn't make them unknowable. I can figure them out _eventually_._

_Also, Note to Self: Do not test for elemental bearerness in public or anywhere with windows without wards._

Twilight levitated Magic onto her head. Immediately, she felt its effects flow through her, expanding her magical power enormously.

_Wow! This is…simply amazing. A rough guess would say Magic's increasing my magic by an order of magnitude. I wonder what else it– No, Twilight. You have an insane goddess coming. Just ask Celestia for details and experiment later._

With the wards now accepting her as a friend, but still blocking teleportation and other fast travel, Twilight walked out of the castle without a care. Magic still rested on her brow and ordered the chaos of the forest around her.

As soon as she had walked far enough to remove the castle from the protection of the elements, she could hear the whine and crackle of the forest tearing apart Celestia's wards from behind her. Within a minute, the sounds died down and Twilight could not detect any trace of the once dangerous spells.

With the elements stabilizing the forest's magic, Twilight decided it was time to experiment yet again. She assumed it would be safe to simply teleport out, but at the same time it would be very embarrassing to die _after_ retrieving the elements.

Twilight fired off the same series of spells she had earlier and was far from surprised to discover her magic was functioning normally. Satisfied that it would be safe to try, she teleported a nearby brick.

First she teleported it to just inside the range of Magic's effects and then she teleported it far outside. Both times the brick arrived in normal condition. However, when she attempted to teleport it back, the brick turned into sawdust.

_Alright then. Teleporting is fine so long as I don't teleport anything originally outside of Magic's range._

Twilight's horn glowed brightly, a pale imitation of the shining Magic had recently delivered, meaning to make the journey out of the forest in a single jump. With Magic helping, she felt she could make the trip back to _Canterlot_ in a single jump. With a eager grin, she decided to to just that.

The light her horn gave off grew and grew as Twilight built up more and more power, culminating in a dazzle rivaling all but Celestia's most powerful spells.

_Okay, Magic, let's get out of this infernal forest._

* * *

Daisy sat next to Princess Celestia at a table overloaded with paperwork. At first, she had been giddy just being in the same room, but as the day wore on the thrill began to taper off rapidly.

Was Princess Celestia intelligent? Of course. Did she have hundreds of lifetimes of experience dwarfing Daisy's own? Absolutely. Would a poet describe her as beautiful? Obviously. Had she the grace and sophistication expected of a ruler? Not so much.

In public, there was no doubt that the princess showed all the manners of Canterlot high society, but when it was just the two of them, her behavior radically changed. She still had a formal tone, but she complained, chatted, and gossiped just like a regular pony while they plowed through document after document.

It was clear Princess Celestia had not been lying when she said she wanted to get to know Daisy. In return, Daisy had learned quite a lot of private and _very_ embarrassing things about Twilight and the princess that, unsurprisingly, never became public knowledge.

"–and then she said 'now that everypony with trivial problems has left, call the first petitioner.'"

"Pff– Di– Did she really?"

"According to Lined Weld, she said it with a heartwarming smile. Can you believe that?"

Daisy fell apart laughing and knocked a stack of papers off the table. Celestia managed to catch them before they scattered, but Daisy would still have to go through them to reorder them a bit.

"Heh heh. Wow. Just, wow. I can see why you don't let Twilight hold court anymore."

"Well, that is not the whole story. She had been to court once before, but it ended in similar disaster. I would not have even asked if my business elsewhere had not been urgent. She is not exactly banned from appearing at court. She just dislikes being there and I have excused her from the duty."

Gazing at her work laid before her, Daisy said, "It's not like she doesn't do enough already. She drilled that speed reading spell into my head last night after Spike went to bed and I still can't keep up with all this."

"I am very lucky to have her. I offered her the position, fully expecting her to run off to some mountain and build a fortress of solitude to further her research alone. Obviously enough, that did not happen and, for all her faults, Equestria has never run smoother since."

Princess Celestia's tone shifted, although Daisy wasn't sure if she was joking or serious when she continued, "Still, sometimes I think about firing her. She has made it no secret that she hates the job. I am certain she only stays for my sake. You would not happen to want a full time position, would you? It comes with _every_ perk."

"My apologizes, Princess Celestia, but not a chance. I don't want to die in five years from overwork."

"Such a shame, you–"

Whatever Princess Celestia was about to say was cut off by a massive thunderclap from above. A moment later, looking outside the window, Daisy could see thousands, if not millions of red and violet sparkles shimmering in the afternoon sky, slowly drifting downward.

Once the ringing stopped – the princess was responsible for the timely cure – Daisy asked, "What was that?"

"One moment, I have to go keep the guard from launching a full assault."

Princess Celestia disappeared into light and reappeared half a minute later.

"So, that was Twilight," the princess finally answered. "What you just witnessed is a more primitive version of her teleports. The sparkles are her teleport signature and the noise was a typical defect of teleportation, although much louder than usual."

"But there was never any hint of either of that when she carried Astral and I here."

"No, but from the laughter I suspect she made the jump here all the way from the south side of the Everfree Forest."

Daisy was too impressed to ask how Twilight pulled together to power necessary to complete such a feat. Instead she asked a much more mundane question she could more easily comprehend. "What laughter?"

Princess Celestia's horn shone for a brief moment and then the sounds of the world suddenly became much sharper to Daisy. She could hear the guards posted outside shifting nervously but not leaving their posts. The nearby maids's hoofsteps came to her as if they were in the same room. A conversation between two nobles was now on the edge of her hearing though she couldn't make out the words.

And indeed, in the sky above came the sound of Twilight locked in maniacal laughter.

"Is she okay? She seems a bit…"

"Yes, she does this every time she discovers something truly interesting." Looking out the window, the princess snickered. "If you look closely, you can still see her rolling around on a small cloud. Although, we need to go speak with her anyway, so we might as well get a closer view. Do you have your cloud-walking bracelet?"

Daisy shook her head and she felt the now familiar yank of a teleport whisking her away to reappear standing on the same cloud as Twilight who was indeed rolling around and laughing uncontrollably. She now wore a golden tiara that somehow managed to remain on her head throughout the ordeal it was put through.

Princess Celestia lifted Twilight from her revelry and set her on her hooves. "I think you have had entirely enough of that."

Reduced to a giggle, Twilight struggled to regain her breath until her horn stopped glowing. "I disagree. Laughter is good for a pony, and there's none better than the maniacal variety."

"Just take us to your room so we can talk privately."

"Spoilsport," Twilight said as her horn glowed. Another teleportation yank relocated Daisy, Twilight and Princess Celestia into Twilight's tower.

Before Daisy regained her sense of balance, the princess had already taken a seat and Twilight was busy stuffing things back into her bag of holding.

_Celestia, but I need to learn how to create sub-dimensional storage._

Still a bit dazed, Daisy half-fell, half-sat on the closest sofa. As she recovered, she felt her gaze being drawn back to the tiara Twilight wore. It felt inviting somehow, but at the same time like a friend that had just gotten a coltfriend and had no interest in spending time with her.

Twilight walked over to Princess Celestia, a stack of papers in her magic, and Daisy followed her every step.

"Here's your layout for trapping the old castle back. I've made a number of improvements so you can stuff more spells in without destabilizing the area. I also would really like to know how the enchantments on the Everfree road are still there, especially after witnessing the forest destroy all of the ones in the castle, but that can wait." Twilight eyed the clock hanging from the wall. "It took longer to walk to the castle than I had hoped."

Princess Celestia quickly reviewed the papers she had been hoofed. "This is very impressive, Twilight. I suppose this is related to what you asked me two nights ago."

"Dense magic has become a bit of a specialty for me, as well as stripping magic down to its bare minimum." Twilight turned away from the princess and mumbled, "It's never enough though."

Daisy would not have normally heard that, but thanks to the spell Princess Celestia had placed on her it came through clear enough. But, despite its clarity, it might as well have been unheard because Daisy's attention was still fixed on the tiara.

"…Daisy?" Surprised by hearing her own name, Daisy jumped and broke her gaze at the tiara. She looked from Twilight to Princess Celestia trying to figure out who had called to her.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. It must have been her. "You seem rather out of it."

"Nothing. I just– What is that tiara you're wearing?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow and asked, "Does it seem fascinating in one way or another?"

It was perhaps the most fascinating object Daisy had ever seen. Immediately, Twilight facehoofed as she agreed.

"…Celestia?" The accusation in Twilight's voice was almost palpable.

"No, no, no, no, no. _This_ is not my fault. There is no reason you can expect me to have known there was a diamond in the rough hanging around that we could find in three weeks or two seasons.

"Besides, Magic is yours now. It can not take on a new partner until you die or betray it, neither of which are acceptable options. There is nothing we can do."

"Sigh…" said Twilight dramatically. "The tiara is Magic – capital m – and it's part of a set of artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony."

"Am I allowed to know about this?" asked Daisy.

"Yeah, sure. You could find out more in old foals's books so there's hardly any harm in telling you directly.

"Anyway, there's six elements and I'm leaving to find bearers for the other five since they are kind of picky about who they'll work with. Used together, the elements can produce a number of interesting effects. Among those effects is what a pony could crudely describe as instant therapy.

"That's why we need them right now. Celestia's super powered lunatic sister is coming back from banishment and we'd like to not be frozen to death in eternal night."

"…I see…"

"Good. If you want details ask Celestia later or visit the archives. Naturally, you shouldn't tell anypony about this. We're working to make whatever happens go as smoothly as possible which would be not at all if the public found out about the Nightmare Moon version of Luna."

"Nightmare Moon? You mean, like the one from Nightmare Night?"

"That's more of a cultural derivative, but yes."

"Oh," Daisy said, her emotionless voice matching her inner state perfectly. She was surprised to find she was taking news of an upcoming potential apocalypse rather well. It could be because her thoughts kept being drawn back to the tiara.

"So what did you mean when you said I was a diamond in the rough?"

"Basically you could have borne Magic yourself," Princess Celestia answered. "It is a moot point now, but it would have been convenient. The Elements of Harmony are powered by friendship between the bearers and Twilight is not particularly good at making friends."

Twilight interrupted, "I believe your exact words were I am the worst pick and I have no social skills."

"…That sounds right. So you see, Daisy, having an open and trustworthy bearer for Magic would have been incredibly helpful. But again, it is a moot point now."

Daisy let herself absorb the information. She was not disappointed, not exactly anyway. She had no interest in fighting goddesses or anypony else. But knowing that the attraction she felt towards Magic would never be satisfied was annoying.

_Attraction? Did I mean that?_ Daisy searched her feelings but could not deny them. _I think I'm crushing on a tiara… That's so weird._

Distracting herself with a question she really should have been asking with more urgency, Daisy inquired, "Do you think things will work out?"

Even with hundreds of years of experience with lying through her teeth, Princess Celestia could not make a normal face and settled for what was presumably the truth. "…We have other plans in place. The worst case scenarios should be prevented. On the topic, Twilight, bring out the other elements and see if any of them bond with Daisy. A jump start on the main plan would be far more helpful than a paperwork companion."

Five stone spheres appeared in the air from nowhere and Daisy once more reminded herself to learn sub-dimensional storage magic. She examined each in turn, but none of the other elements held the same fascination that Magic had.

Princess Celestia told her to try touching them anyway, just in case, but there was no response from any of the inert lumps.

"I suppose I could not expect anything else," Princess Celestia said. "I did not really want to do all that work myself anyway. I shall just consider this a blessing in disguise."

"From who?" interjected Twilight. "Nightmare Moon?"

The princess pretended to laugh at Twilight's joke and pulled out a few papers, again from nowhere with more jealousy from Daisy.

"If you are quite done here, then take this and go about your business. You said you were running late."

Twilight took the papers and sent them back into nowhere. "These are the elements's documentation, correct?"

"Yes. Everything I know about them is written down. It is not much, but it is all I have."

"Alright, then," said Twilight, her horn glowing. "I'll see you…later."

"Twilight," Princess Celestia said like a parent to a foal that has forgotten something important.

Her horn dimmed and Twilight said, "What is it?"

"Magic. We need you to leave that with us, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Twilight removed Magic from her head and held it out halfway to Daisy.

"You're giving it to me?" asked Daisy, her emotions a mix of both desire and caution. She was uncertain how she would feel when it came time to return the tiara.

"Yeah, that's another reason why I wanted to get a substitute for me. Celestia can't even touch the elements because she's a terrible pony. Completely unharmonious. I think she's even married to Discord who's like the exact opposite of harmony."

Daisy looked uncertainly at Princess Celestia who rolled her eyes.

"Do not take a word of that seriously. Except for the first part. I lost my own connection to half of the elements when I used them all to banish my sister. Part of the plan calls for spell casting in the old castle and surrounding areas and I need a mobile element for that."

That train of logic had an obvious flaw. "Couldn't you just put it in a wagon and pull it around?"

"I tried a lot of things like that before." Princess Celestia seemed lost in thought and started laughing. "Now that I really think about it, from the outside I must have looked ridiculous.

"To answer your question, no. The elements are very stubborn and would not even budge. I even constructed a Rube Goldberg machine, although there was no such name at the time, and nothing happened. That is a story for another time though."

"I'll just pretend that makes sense."

"At times like this," Twilight began, "it's usually best to just say 'a wizard did it' and move on."

"Right…" Daisy wrapped her own magic around Magic floating in front of her and pulled but Twilight did not let go and was much stronger. "Um… You can let go, Twilight."

"Of course…" Twilight said biting her lip but managing to withdraw her magic in a few moments. "Letting go of an element is harder than I thought."

Turning to Princess Celestia, Twilight said, "I completely understand what you were trying to say before. Do you feel like this all the time?"

"Fortunately not. I remember the longing and the sensations, but the elements and Magic in particular are more objects of revulsion when I am in their presence. It is…difficult to both love them and be disgusted at their very sight, but I am coping."

Twilight looked worried, but built up the magic for a teleport. "Alright. Goodbye then."

Daisy and Princess Celestia were left alone in the tower with Magic still suspended in the air. Daisy looked at it for a little longer and finally put it on her head. The rush of power she felt was breathtaking, but not overwhelming. She certainly was not going to descend into crazed laughter anytime soon.

"…She left without removing you from her wards," Princess Celestia said while staring at the spot Twilight had just before stood in. "Oh well. We shall simply have to walk down the stairs."

The princess walked over toward the door as Daisy continued to contemplate both Magic and the magical surge it gave her.

"Daisy, come along. We need to put Magic in storage for both of our sakes."

Shaking herself free of her fixation on the element, Daisy walked to join the princess.

* * *

Twilight appeared outside Shining's and Cadance's house. The building was small, but at the insistence of Cadance's parents it was perhaps the finest and most elegant small house in Canterlot.

It even managed to out style most of the surrounding mansions with the magnificent gardening Cadance employed in all of the empty space that would have otherwise been taken up by building.

If the two did not have to satisfy Shining's in-laws then they would have lived much further from the castle and out of the influence of the nobility. After all, distance was no issue for Shining who was a very capable teleporter while Cadance had to walk or fly into town to meet with her publisher.

Despite some minor difficulties, Twilight thought it was a nice place and she would not mind staying there if circumstances ever forced her, even if it did not have a moat.

Of course, moats were completely pointless. That point had been proven many times in history and had an exclamation mark added to the end by the legendary Commander Hurricane. Twilight just thought they looked nice and the space was going to waste anyway. However, neither her brother nor Cadance would hear of it and she suspected Celestia had some influence in it as well.

Ignoring the disappointing lack of moat in the back of her mind, Twilight approached the front door. As she was about to knock, the door swung open and Cadance jumped on her with a hug.

"Twi! I didn't expect you to visit again so soon!" Breaking the hug, Cadance continued to hold Twilight's shoulders with her hooves. "Did you manage to finish a three week long quest in half a day?"

"No, but I did stop by to talk about that. Specifically to remind Spike how to keep a secret since I'm sure he's already told Star Charmer everything he knows and she's probably kindly shared it with you."

"Go easy on him, Twi. We already scolded him for it."

Twilight stared at Cadance.

"We did."

Twilight continued her stare.

Cracking, Cadance said, "A little bit."

Twilight just kept staring.

"Okay, barely at all. We were curious where you were going that you actually bothered to find a replacement."

"See, that is exactly why I didn't tell you. You are terrible at lying and worse at keeping secrets." As an afterthought, Twilight elaborated, "And Shining because he can't keep secrets from you."

"I can so keep a secret!" protested Cadance.

"I've known you practically my entire life. In that time there's only been one secret you managed to keep around me and only because I was too busy to notice."

Cadance winced at being reminded of that particularly ill-planned surprise.

"We've apologized for years that we didn't tell you we were engaged. Years, Twilight. Can't you let it go?"

"Not so long as it as it remains effective to guilt trip you."

"You are _so_ mean," pouted Cadance. "I don't remember raising you like that."

"I can accept that; I have to be mean with my job."

Twilight heard the approaching sound of little hoofsteps accompanied by claws just beyond a row of hedges. Turning to get a better look, Spike and Star Charmer appeared around the corner and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Twilight.

The small pink and purple pegasus was the first to break away from Twilight's admonishing glare and pulled Spike along with her as they fled back the way they came.

"Excuse me a moment, Cadance."

Twilight teleported directly in front of the foals and in their haste they ran straight into her. Both recovered quickly and tried to escape in opposite directions but Twilight brought them back with telekinesis and kept their hooves and claws glued to the ground.

Both were panicking and avoiding looking directly at Twilight as they struggled against their bonds. Spike was about to blast the area with dragonfire but was prevented from opening his mouth to let it out.

"Really, Spike? Dragonfire in a garden? Do you want to set fire to all of Canterlot?"

His mouth released, he shouted, "N–No! I just– It was her!"

"What!" Star Charmer cried, outraged. "You were practically begging to tell somepony!"

"Nah uh!"

"Yes you were!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

Spike and Star Charmer descended into the the kind of substanceless argument only foals could keep up for more than a few rounds.

"Look," said Twilight while snapping both of their mouths shut, "it doesn't matter who is at fault. And honestly, I don't care. I don't have time to deal with you two right now so I'll be leaving that up to Cadance. No, scratch that. I'll leave a note for Shining."

Twilight bent down to the duo's height before continuing. "It's really important that you do not tell _anypony_ where I am. It would be easy enough to simply erase the information from your minds" – both gasped – "but I find that abhorrent.

"However, if I get word that you have revealed the secret then I will personally see to it that the mind of whoever you told is wiped clean, and perhaps do the same to you. This is too important for my qualms about memory magic. Understood?"

Spike and Star Charmer nodded very quickly and very enthusiastically.

"Good." Twilight's stern face melted back into the usual smile she had for her family. Standing back up, she added, "If you keep your word, I may come back with something special for both of you."

Both were looking expectantly at Twilight, no doubt hoping she would reveal what her surprise was.

"I'm not going to tell you what your surprise would be." The filly's and wyrmling's expressions deflated. "Now go back to whatever you were doing. Fleeing, maybe?"

They looked away embarrassed. Spike especially had red cheeks that were very hard to spot under his purple scales. Star Charmer whispered something in Spike's ear that Twilight was somehow unable to hear and they ran off.

Satisfied with her work with the foals, Twilight teleported back to Cadance.

"Well, hopefully that will keep those two quiet for three weeks."

Cadance eyed Twilight suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Nothing much. A few stern words and an incentive. Also– One moment."

Twilight summoned some ink and parchment and wrote:

_BBBFF, Cadance told me you didn't really scold Spike and/or Star Charmer. You should fix that. Think of it this way. One or both of them revealed classified information. If one of your soldiers did that, they'd find the fast exit out of the guard._

Placing the note in a summoned envelope and sealing it shut with magic, Twilight hoofed it over to Cadance.

"I'd appreciate it if you gave this to Shining."

Cadance took the letter and said, "Do you want to just come inside? Shiny will be back soon for supper. We'd both love it if you joined us."

"I'd love to, but I have a lot of loose ends to put together before I leave. Anyway, back to our own conversation. I expect you to do your very best to keep my location to yourself. The future of the entire world, not just Equestria, is riding on my ability to make friends. The whole archmage thing tends to be a wall with most ponies and that could take too long to get over."

Horrified, Cadance asked, "You're trying to save the world with friendship?" – Twilight nodded – "We're doomed…"

"I wish I could tell you not to worry, but the situation _is_ pretty bad. The only comfort I can give you is we can avoid the worst case scenario which is the world being destroyed.

"And…if anything happens to me. Spike will… He will need a new–"

Cadance embraced Twilight with hooves and wings.

"Oh, Twi. If anything ever happens to you, we will always be there for Spike."

Her voice barely a whisper, Twilight said, "Thank you, Cadance. I don't know how I can ever thank you for all the help you've given me with Spike."

"Don't give me that. I was the only one agreeing with your decision to adopt him. It's natural I bear some of the responsibility."

"Thanks," Twilight said again. Then, losing all of the gratitude and love in her voice, she returned to her normal tone. "But that and this are two entirely different things. Don't tell anypony or I'll…" Twilight stopped to think. "Or I'll call you Mi Amore Cadenza for the rest of your life."

"Eww!" Cadance said with the exact same tone of disgust she had once used when Shining and Twilight had pranked her with the single worst drink ponykind was capable of mixing. "Twi, I hate my title!"

"Then don't tell anypony. It's as simple as that."

Cadance softly stamped her hoof to emphasize her next point. "You really are mean."

Giggling, Twilight agreed, "Yep. I blame the nobility. With a few royal exceptions."

"…I can understand that."

With a wave of her hoof and a flare of her horn, Twilight said, "Goodbye then. If I have time, I'll come visit," and was gone.

* * *

Espionage had a sandy textured coat and a light blue mane and tail that bore a distinctly ocean feel. His cutie mark was a palm tree on a tiny island. His eyes were purple.

They were always purple.

Of the many disguises he took, he always left his eyes purple to remind himself of his lover, even in his otherwise unaltered form.

"If I pretend I didn't see her, she'll just go away," Espionage whispered to himself.

He had been on Haywaii for the past three days enjoying his first ever vacation with his wife. It also happened to be his first vacation ever.

"I blend in with the beach. There's no way she can find me."

He was currently alone which made his camouflage far more effective. His lover did not exactly stick out against sand, but neither did she mesh well with it.

"Please don't be looking for me."

Espionage had seen a small violet speck on the horizon completely by chance and had watched it grow in long, rapid jumps only one pony was capable of.

The archmage appeared in one final teleport on the beach some ways off. An ominous white, blue, and purple glow appeared around her.

"Oh, buck. That's a tracking spell, isn't it?"

In a few seconds, Archmage Twilight's head turned to face his exact direction and seemed to search for something, or somepony. The spell faded and a glow from her horn was all the warning Espionage had before she appeared next to him.

"Hello, Esp. How's the vacation going?"

"You have got to be kidding!" Espionage exploded. "You work my chitin off day in and day out, and now that I'm on vacation, for the first time in my life, you show up to drag me back!"

"Oh, poor Esp. I'm so sorry, I'll just go back and find some other pony with the skills and experience necessary to keep the world from tearing itself apart." The archmage turned as if to leave. "Oh, wait. You don't have a choice in the matter. That was the deal with your queen. And you're not exactly on good terms with your hive. Do you really want me to give you back?"

"…No."

"Good drone. I do intend to make this up to you. Give me three weeks of your time and then you can have the rest of the year off with pay."

Espionage's eyes widened. "Are you serious? You're not just going to do this to me again, are you?"

"Well, I may keep you an extra week or two, but I can make due with just EIS after that. You have been doing a good job getting them into a serviceable state the past two years. You could do a better job of keeping Soulful Dust off my tail about sending you in to clean up the department, but whatever."

"Alright. Come pick us up in an hour. We'll be ready then. We're in room 1352 at the Mane Fair."

The archmage pulled out a watch from nowhere, nodded and disappeared.

_Well, that was surprisingly generous. I just hope Tavi isn't too upset about ending our vacation early._

* * *

When traveling over land in Equestria, and in most other countries, if one does not have wings then one takes the train. Of course, there was the rare exception like the archmage or the princess that had enough power to teleport around, but the train was the next best option.

Index was a mid-twenties unicorn with a light-yellow coat. Her milky-white mane she had tied in a braid and her cutie mark was a pile of three hardcover books. She sat on the Ponyville bound line reading a book entitled _Entering the Dream Realm_ which drew a few odd looks from the surrounding passengers.

But rather than the book, it was her reading glare, her posture, and the atmosphere of solitude she exuded that kept the seats next to and across from her empty. She was beginning to think nopony was going to sit next to her – and that was fine, she wasn't on the clock until arriving in Ponyville – but then a purple earth pony appeared.

"May I sit here?" the purple pony asked.

"Of course."

The purple pony stored her bags in the overhead compartment and took her seat.

"I'm Cheerilee, by the way," the purple pony said, hoof extended.

"Index Code. Index is fine."

The two mares tapped hooves and Index went back to reading her book. Cheerilee dipped her head down to get a look at the title.

"What's that book about?"

Index sighed internally and closed her book. She couldn't afford to have a Ponyville resident start spreading bad rumors about her before she even got there.

"It's about lucid dreaming. In particular, it's an instructional manual on how to learn to recognize when you're dreaming."

Cheerilee eyed the book, clearly more interested. "I've had a few lucid dreams before. I don't remember them very well, but I do remember they were a lot of fun. Is there anywhere I could get a copy?"

"Well…" Index idly played with the book, trying to think of what to say about her possession of a very old, restricted book. In the end, she decided part of the truth would do. "This is probably the last copy of this book, so you'd have to go through the Canterlot Archives to get it. They'd throw a fit if I lent it to anypony."

"That's all right. So, you work for the government then?"

"Eh, sort of. I get shuffled around so much that I'm more of a consultant, but officially I am on Equestria's payroll."

"That sounds tiring. I can't imagine having to change jobs at all, let alone frequently."

Index shrugged. "It's not actually that bad. There are some things that I don't get a chance for, but in exchange my job stays fresh and I get to see a lot of different places."

"Hmm… I guess I never thought of it that way. Celestia knows that the paperwork in elementary school teaching wears me down at times. Summer work especially. All the foals get to run around and cause mischief while I'm stuck inside."

"I totally understand the feeling," Index said, although for her summer meant all year.

"You have foals? How old?"

"Just one." Index paused for a moment to consider just how old Spike was in terms of pony development. A fourteen-year-old dragon definitely was not the same as a fourteen-year-old pony. "He's a little over nine."

"Nine?" Cheerilee inspected Index with a measured eye. Index realized a little too late that as an elementary school teacher she would be well used to ponies of a particular age range. One that Index did not belong in.

"The circumstances were…beyond my control," Index said, then blushed profusely when she realized the implications she just had made. Hastily, she started self-destructing trying to explain herself. "That's not what I meant! I mean, there was nothing nonconsensual going on. Not– That's not it either! There was nothing consensual either! I mean– It's just– This isn't coming out right. I haven't– That is to say, I–"

Index gave up trying to explain away what she had said and simply stated, "He's adopted."

The whirlwind of Index's words over, Cheerilee smiled and replied, "That's so sweet. I mean, I'm sure whatever caused that was terrible, but I'm amazed you took on that responsibility. How old were you when it happened?"

"There's not actually a terrible backstory. He was just sort of found and we bonded about six years ago." _All true in the most technical sense._ "I have no idea who his biological parents are."

"That's even sweeter. I wish there were more ponies like you in the world. It would mean the world for–" Cheerilee stopped abruptly and looked away, no doubt realizing she was just about to reveal confidential student information. "If you could please forget I said anything."

"My lips are sealed. For reference, you could have just played that out into a comment about orphans in general. I might not have noticed anything then."

Cheerilee took a moment, reviewing her words and said, "Oh, I guess you're right. I've never been very good at that kind of word play. That aside, tell me more about your colt."

"Do you actually want to hear me gush about him?" Index asked. She had never enjoyed it when other ponies tried to tell her about their foals.

"Of course! I love foals, even if they drive me insane during the school year. It's why I'm an elementary teacher."

Index took a deep breath. She figured it might be awhile before she got another one.

* * *

"Do you want to run that by me again, Espionage?" asked Soulful Dusk, director of the EIS. Her messy, snow-white mane and tail stood out against her dark gray coat as usual.

Espionage currently had the form of an all black pony without a cutie mark. It was his most frequent appearance around EIS since some of the lower rung members were not permitted to know about changelings.

"Look, these orders are coming directly from the archmage and the princess, so put that magnifying glass cutie mark to work and start investigating."

Soulful Dusk banged her head on her desk and accidentally hit her horn on some miscellaneous evidence. Rubbing it and wincing at times, she complained, "Ugh. And here I thought I was rid of you for a few weeks."

"Same here," Espionage retorted. "I was having a great time with Tavi and now I'm here on round-the-clock duty for three weeks. Fortunately for both of us, I've been promised the rest of the year off after that."

Soulful Dusk snapped back up with a huge smile. "Now _that_ is welcome news."

A knock came at the door to Soulful Dusk's office. She shouted for the new arrivals to come in and three ponies stepped inside. In front came Honorable Zeal, head of the EIS field agents; the captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire; and Zeal's top agent, codename Double Donut Seven, were flanking him.

Espionage greeted his orange pegasus friend with a double hoofpound as was their routine.

Zeal asked, "What are you doing back from paradise so soon, Esp? Don't tell me Tavi finally got sick of you?"

"She might have if the archmage hadn't personally scared her stiff and told her about my upcoming two-and-a-half season vacation."

"Oh, now I'm jealous. I can't keep getting left behind by the first changeling to fall in love, now can I? Ruins my reputation with the mares."

"You're already rock bottom in the books of every mare in Canterlot," Spitfire scoffed. "Take a lesson from Double D Seven and maybe some miserable pony would consider it."

"Ouch. But I know you don't mean it, so I forgive you," said Zeal, trying to put a foreleg around Spitfire's shoulders only for it to be batted away by her wing.

"How's your little brother doing in his love?" Espionage asked before those two started another brawl. They once had started a lightning fight indoors and Soulful Dusk had seen fit to make Espionage clean up the mess for 'instigating' it under similar pretenses as the current ones.

"No luck yet," Zeal said, turning his attention from Spitfire, "but he claims the archmage is cracking. He really chose a hard one to pursue."

"Sirs," Double Donut Seven interrupted. "I think the director is about to lose it."

Espionage turned around and saw that Soulful Dusk's eyes were twitching and her forehooves were crushing an aluminum cup.

"Are you three quite done?" she asked. Muttering to herself, she said, "I swear, must you do this every time…" Turning her attention back to the group, she told Espionage to fill the rest of group in.

"Alright, so all of you know we've been getting weird orders from the princess recently. The long and short of it is it turns out she has a sister called Nightmare Moon who's coming home in three weeks and wants to take over Equestria."

Seeing the shocked and confused looks on the three new arrivals, Espionage told them to hold their questions until the end.

"The princess has been trying to minimize the damage of whatever happens. However this ends, it's likely we'll have a new ruler plus or minus our current one. A couple days ago the archmage found out, got mad, and started hatching schemes with the princess. They have some sort of master plan going on that they have not deemed to share with us.

"Anyways, our job is pretty simple, if laborious. We need to investigate everypony and every group that has any real influence in political or military matters and deal with any problems appropriately. This includes foreign powers. The archmage found out on her own so in theory any run-of-the-mill ambitious pony could too. We've dealt with night themed cults before, so that's a bad sign already.

"The last thing Equestria needs is a full blown civil war. If two goddesses want to fight to the bitter end over the throne, none of us can really do anything about that. What we can do is keep the rest of the country out of it.

"Now, questions?" Espionage got three blank looks in response. "No? Good. Moving on."

"Whoa, hold up," Spitfire said. "Princess Celestia has a sister?"

"Look, I'm not going to answer any pointless questions."

"Fine. But to clarify, our mission is to keep the world at peace and accept whatever happens?"

"To the best of our ability, yes. We especially need to keep the ancient dragons neutral or asleep. Soulful Dusk, how many ancient dragons are awake right now?"

"Fortunately just three, but if Nightmare Moon takes the field then they are bound to awaken the rest of them. Dragons tend to grow bitter and mean with age, but they are very honorable and would be bound by the Alicorn Accord to fight."

"Right," Espionage said, taking over again, "and I doubt any of us want the world to be reduced to ashes."

The conversation paused as all five ponies stopped to envision the world ending in dragonfire and magic.

Espionage suspected the changelings might be able to survive the cataclysm with their fast, coordinated communication through the hives, but everypony else would not be so lucky. The world would burn and with it would go the ponies, the griffins, the horses, the zebras, and everything else. And then the changelings would starve to death.

Even with the archmage's magic granting him privacy, Espionage's growing panic was slipping into a very confused hive.

"Wow," Soulful Dusk said. "Suddenly I'm feeling a lot more motivated."

"Me too," chorused Zeal, Double Donut Seven, and Spitfire.

Soulful Dusk prodded Espionage out of his thoughts with her magic. "Espionage, can you get the hive working on this with us?"

"Um… Yeah, probably," Espionage said. He was pretty sure he could convince Queen Chrysalis to help. She was on very good terms with Equestria, if perhaps still a little wary at the hive being invited to stay in a country, but she was still very cross with Espionage for revealing their existence. "It might be better if the princess does the talking and I just relay the conversation."

Nodding, Soulful Dusk said, "Understood. I'll make the request as soon as we're done here. Honorable Zeal, I want you to get every agent active. Start with domestic ponies and move out from there."

"Yes sir," Zeal responded, unusually formally with an accompanying salute.

"Double Donut Seven, I need you to start infiltrating the griffins. They love war as it is and are looking to get revenge for their recent embarrassing defeat. Find out what they're up to and the moment they find out about what's happening in Equestria, send word our way."

"What should we do about the griffin royal–"

"Imperial, Seven," Soulful Dusk corrected. "The imperial family member. Don't make that kind of mistake in The Griffin Kingdoms. They're _very_ touchy about it. As for…what's her name again?"

"Gilda Alae the Fourth," Double Donut Seven answered. "She's in Cloudsdale as a student."

"Right. Honorable Zeal, keep an agent on her but don't let her find out. It doesn't really matter where she is or what she does, so long as she doesn't cause any incidents. Griffins couldn't care less about hostages, so we shouldn't even bother. We only need to make sure she doesn't give the griffins a legitimate reason to invade."

Getting a nod from Zeal, Soulful Dusk continued, "Spitfire, get all of the Wonderbolts on a 'training exercise' around Equestria. Look for anything out of the ordinary and then spread out to the borders. Keep an eye on foreign movements, but more importantly watch over the domestic troops."

Spitfire thought for a moment then asked, "What reason should I give for the presence of Wonderbolts everywhere on Equestrian borders?"

"No idea," Soulful Dusk said, shrugging. "Whatever you come up with, run it by me first.

"Espionage, work with Honorable Zeal. You know best how to direct changelings so you'll be in charge of them. Also, if the princess doesn't mind, try bringing other hives to Equestria. We'll need all the help we can get so we'd appreciate it if you all could set aside whatever interhive politics your species practices."

"No guarantee on that. Hives get together occasionally but if we stay together too long we start…merging you could say. With how long we've been living in Equestria, my queen is probably the strongest and few others would be willing to give up their power with the fate of the world merely uncertain."

"I'll mention that to the princess. Maybe she'll come up with some incentive beyond peace and a filled stomach." Seeing her comrades idling, she added, "Well? Get to work. You all have your orders."

* * *

The magic powered train pulled into its first southbound stop with a mighty hiss of thaumic energies being released. Those sensitive to the flow of magic would feel the dissipation of a large quantity of energy into the ground as the breaks did their work.

Several dozen ponies quit the locomotive for the station and at the end came Index and Cheerilee. Their conversation had eventually left foals and allowed Index to learn a lot about Ponyville. More recently they had moved on to Index's business in Ponyville.

"So where are you going to be staying while overseeing the festival?"

"I think I'm staying with the Ponyville hospitality director or something like that," answered Index.

"Oh, that would be Pinkie Pie then. You should have lots of fun with her, although you may want to take her in small doses at first."

Index recovered her bulkier luggage from a train engineer and turned back to Cheerilee who only had saddlebags with her. Her questioning look prompted Cheerilee to point across the platform.

Even through the crowd of ponies, it was easy to see what was waiting on the other end just next to the exit. An earth pony that oozed pink was standing on her hind legs, waving around a greeting sign labeled 'Welcome to Ponyville, Index!' above her head. She was surrounded by what could only be called a flock of balloons. Next to her was something Index could just barely make out.

_Is– Is that a cannon? What possible use does she have for a cannon?_

It was only for a fleeting moment, but Index and Pinkie Pie locked eyes. Suddenly, as quick as teleportation for normal pony reflexes, she was at Index's side with their forehooves locked. Reflexively, Index flung her away with enough strength to send her flying out of the station, but a blink later she was back and on the other side of Index.

_What?_

It was all Index could do to control her reflexes and not send the unnatural earth pony to Saddle Lake or retreat herself to a random location far away.

This time, instead of locking forelegs, Pinkie Pie went for a tight hug and knocked Index onto her rear, the whole time continuing the hug.

"Welcome to Ponyville, Index! We're so glad to have you here!" Pinkie Pie spewed off almost faster than Index could process which was a disturbing thought all on its own. "I'm so sorry for surprising you like that. My name is Pinkie Pie, but I bet you already knew that. I live at the Sugarcube Corner where you'll be staying with me and the Cakes. That's a capital C, not that there aren't lowercase c cakes there too. Mayor Mare arranged for you to stay with us. We're going to have so much fun together. Your welcome party's tonight too. You'll be able to meet a good chunk of Ponyville but not all of it. The Sugarcube Corner just isn't big enough to host a party for the entire town. If you want to make it in time we'll have to get going. The mayor wants to say hello to you personally and who knows how long that will take. She's always so bogged down in paperwork and red tape and all that. I've got your luggage, so let's go."

Index was being pulled from the station by the firm grip of Pinkie Pie who at some unknown time had broken off the hug and acquired Index's luggage from her viselike telekinetic grip. At some point, the confetti cannon had gone off but the platform was completely clean of any mess Pinkie Pie could have left behind.

There was only one hope without breaking cover. Index turned around to stare pleadingly at Cheerilee.

The elementary teacher just waved goodbye.

* * *

After being dragged across town and given the name of every pony they passed on the way, Pinkie Pie gave Index over to the custody of a sympathetic looking blue earth pony. She introduced herself as Berry Nectar, assistant and secretary to the mayor. Her red and black striped mane and tail matched her name well, but surprisingly her cutie mark was an hourglass.

While Pinkie Pie waited downstairs, Berry guided Index upstairs to just outside the mayor's office. It was a party free zone and very comforting after dealing with the local party pony.

Minutes passed with Index sitting and trying to comprehend how an earth pony had managed to do the less interesting half of what she had seen. _Celestia_ would have trouble moving at the speeds Pinkie Pie had displayed. And Index still had no clue how she managed to clean up the station without being noticed.

Berry Nectar returned with a cup of hot chocolate. It seemed an odd drink to have around in summer, but it helped.

_Probably stored in a cabinet labeled 'In case of Pinkie Pie.'_

Shortly, Index was invited inside the office proper. The mayor's office was surprisingly tidy for a governing official. Index knew her own was a mess and Celestia's was even worse. Most other mayors had a similar problem when she visited.

On one wall was a chalkboard with franticly drawn diagrams and several documents pinned to it by magnets. It seemed to be trying to identify the 'source of chaos' in Ponyville without much luck. Index was unsurprised to see Pinkie Pie was a prime suspect.

Deciding to give further investigation a miss, she took her seat across from the mayor's desk. The unfortunately named, Mayor Mare – the name plate said Mayor Mayor Mare – was a light tan coated earth pony with a white mane and tail just beginning to turn gray which Index suspected was her natural hair color. Of particular interest were the browline glasses she wore instead of having a simple spell correct her vision. Overall, she gave Index the impression of trying to appear older than she actually was.

Looking up from a folder she was riffling through, Mayor Mare spotted the hot chocolate floating nearby.

After introductions were made, Mayor Mare said, "Please accept my apologies for Pinkie Pie, Index. I try to reel in her craziness, but it only helps so much."

"It's okay," Index said with the lie completely obvious to anypony that heard it. "I've coped with less friendly monstrosities." Index realized what she said a split second after it came out. "I didn't mean–"

"It's alright," Mayor Mare interrupted. "I _fully_ understand and sympathize. You build up a tolerance after a while, but your first exposure to Pinkie is something you never forget."

"Do you know how she does it? I would say she's breaking the rules, but that would discredit me as an academic forever."

"She's just an earth pony like me…" Mayor Mare reassured Twilight, but the unease in her voice was far from convincing. "I can understand if you would like different accommodations."

"No. I couldn't do that. I have three weeks here that will be simply awful if I don't make any friends. I can't start out by snubbing local kindness." _And besides that, I _have _to investigate this phenomenon. She could be the breakthrough I've been seeking, if unlikely._

"There's nopony in town that would hold fleeing from Pinkie against you," Mayor Mare counseled. "We understand better than anypony that she can be a bit too much."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I can deal with her…eventually. I just wasn't expecting…" Index faltered for words, trying to find laypony words for how Index would describe the anomaly.

"Pinkie," Mayor Mare finished.

"…Yeah. She might as well be given her own category."

"Well, I admire your bravery. After your party tonight, she'll cool off. A bit."

Index gulped, then nodded.

"So, on to business. We started planning the moment we received word we would be hosting the festival this year."

The mayor pushed over the folder she had been holding earlier. "You can refer to this dossier for most of the details we've worked out so far. I can summarize it if you'd like."

Index could probably read the entire document faster than Mayor Mare could highlight it, but she gave the nod anyway.

"There's two major parts of the celebration. There's the usual festivities like street performers, dancing, plays, rides, food, et cetera. We've contracted several specific entertainers to come. They'll be arriving sporadically between now and the week before. The usual carnival events will arrive within a couple weeks but won't be set up until a few days before the solstice."

"Hang on a second." Index had been following along in the dossier and had it open to the list of performances on the city's bit. "Who's Beatrix Lulamoon? She sounds familiar."

"Beatrix is a traveling showpony. She does a magic act under the stage name Trixie."

"Of course!" Index shouted rising from her chair in her excitement and posing like the mare in question. "Nopony could ever forget The Great and Powerful Trixie. She blew up the auditorium twice and the music room before they expelled her."

"Err… Maybe we should reconsider–"

"No, no." Index waved her hoof at the very thought of the idea. "This will be great. At a distance, there's no better entertainment than her. And if she's a showpony now, she must have learned more control. Or swindled some poor insurance company. Either way, we would be remiss to deny the world Trixie."

"…Right. Moving on. For the actual ceremony we have Vinyl Scratch volunteering to manage the music and sound systems. We also have no small number of carpenters, professional and hobbyist, in town building stages and other temporary structures. Big Macintosh of Sweet Apple Acres is in charge of that.

"His little sister, Applejack, is heading up organization of catering for the reception for the notables. There's a number of other ponies working with her to even out her, well, her rather unnatural fondness for apples. Please don't tell her I said that.

"We managed to get Octavia Melody and her group to come play at the reception as well."

Index facehoofed. "Please tell me you're not talking about the one from Canterlot."

The mayor was obviously confused. "Is that a problem?"

"Only for me." _Esp is going to be such a pain when he finds out Octavia's close to danger._ "Don't worry about it."

"Okay, then next would be decorations. When the time comes, Pinkie will be in charge of that. Good news for you," Mayor Mare joked. "You'll have some guaranteed freedom from her."

Getting an eye roll in response, the mayor continued, "Lastly we have a promise from the royal guard to help out with security and peacekeeping the week before the festival until it's over. We expect a huge influx of ponies during that time for the festival so naturally we'll need the guard's help. Along a similar line of thought, we're working on building a bunch of inns to house visitors in, although we don't know if we'll be able to make enough in time."

"I see. If that becomes a major concern then I'll put in a request for some magical assistance. The princess and the archmage will probably help clean up their own mess."

"About that, if you don't mind my asking, why is Ponyville hosting the Summer Sun Celebration at all? Not that we're not grateful, but it's always been held in a large city before. And admittedly they are much better equipped to do so."

"That's an excellent question. I don't really know either. From what I understand, you'd have to ask Princess Celestia or Archmage Twilight Sparkle directly to get an answer. If you want my speculations, I would say that they just want a day or two in the country to relax for once."

Both mares stopped to enjoy a laugh.

"Anyway, if that's everything important" – Index waited for the mayor to nod – "then I should explain my job. It's pretty simple, especially with Ponyville being smaller than usual. I'm here to make sure you don't crash and burn and to help out if you run into trouble, but you have complete creative control.

"I'll expect updates once and a while, but not in real time. Have fun with this and if you do well then the powers that be might add Ponyville to the regular list for hosting events."

"We'd appreciate that. We have a lot of exporting with the head branch of the Apple family here, but we could really use the tourism."

Rising, Index said, "It was good to meet you."

"Same here. I have Berry keep our records up to date so whenever you want to pick updates up you can just ask her for them. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to see you as well."

* * *

The Sugarcube Corner was by no means a large store, but it dedicated most of its floorspace to two rooms. There was the kitchen that was packed to the brim with ovens and raw ingredients. Then there was the front of house that boasted no less than thirty tables which, when cleared out, provided plenty of space for parties.

Pinkie Pie had gone all out – at least Index hoped this was all out – and had invited several hundred ponies. The whirlwind of introductions had gone by so fast that even Index had trouble remembering every name. To her relief, Pinkie Pie had not insisted on escorting her the entire night and had left to play some party games with other ponies.

Index was not fond of parties of any kind, but she was here to make friends and there would probably never be a better chance to start. At least this one was not as bad as the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Pass," said Derpy, a cross-eyed, gray pegasus.

Index studied Vinyl Scratch carefully. As far as Index could tell, the white coated DJ had no tells, or if she did then they were blocked by those infernal sunglasses she insisted on wearing indoors at night. Vinyl had five cards left and if she went out first, her team would have enough points to win the game.

Index's own partner, a light yellow baker that had introduced herself as Sweetie Drops, though most ponies called her Bon-Bon for some inexplicable reason, had led a single full house. Index was pretty sure Vinyl had a bomb left, considering she had one-upped Index nearly every round in this exact same situation, but the rounds where Index had assumed that had cost her team dearly.

Index hesitantly lifted four sevens from her hand but stopped short of playing them and pushed them back down. A moment later she realized she had just done something incredibly stupid.

_Horseapples! Now they know I have a four-of-a-kind. No wait, I can bluff my way through this._

Index looked at Vinyl again and saw the mare was smirking. It was exactly the same kind of pitying smile Index made when she was dragged into Celestia's school as a guest lecturer for nine-year-old foals.

_Curse these locals and their stupid game._

Index plucked a full house from her hand and softly slammed it onto the trick. She looked at her opponent and noticed the small movements of her chest.

_She's laughing at me! Argh!_

Vinyl laid her entire hand down on the trick. She had had a five long straight flush.

Index gaped and then collapsed onto the table.

_It didn't even matter…_

Now her own partner was laughing at her. "You're not _that_ bad, Index."

"Yeah. I was way worse the first time I played." Index rotated her head to look at Derpy. "You've obviously got the memory and skills for the game. You just lack experience."

Index's attention was turned to Vinyl who took over. "A big part of this game is learning how your opponents play."

"So you're saying I can win if I get to know you better?" _That's conveniently in line with my mission._

"We," Sweetie Drops corrected. "_We_ could win."

"…Of course."

"It's not the only reason we lost, but your teamwork is abysmal."

At the accusation, Index buried her head in her hooves and moaned, thereby eliciting more laughs from the other three.

"It's too late to play again tonight, but I'm free tomorrow if you'd like."

The clock at the end of Sweetie Drops's gaze showed it was barely past ten.

_That is going to take some getting used to._ _Kinda see where Luna is coming from when ponies go to bed this early._

"That would be great. My job is pretty easy for once and I've got _a lot_ of free time until the festival is over."

"What about you two?"

"Nah. Mayor's sending me to Canterlot for a few days to work out festival stuff with Octavia Melody."

Sweetie Drops paused in gathering the cards. "The cellist?"

"Why am I the only pony that's never heard of her?" Vinyl threw the tricks she had taken towards Sweetie Drops.

"Because you don't listen to classical music," Derpy explained. "I keep telling you to listen to something other than wubs."

Ignoring Vinyl's grumbling, Sweetie Drops asked, "What about you, Derpy?"

"I have to work late tomorrow. Lots 'a mail coming in tomorrow morning."

"Hmm… Well, Lyra will want to play, of course. Cheerilee will probably be busy…"

"I think Minuette is free," offered Vinyl.

"Ooh, she hasn't had time to play in a while. That'll be fun."

After cleaning up, Vinyl and Derpy excused themselves while Sweetie Drops explained when and where to meet tomorrow. It turned out that Sweetie Drops lived on the outskirts of town, although Ponyville was not that big. She also insisted on making the meeting a dinner date as well.

With their arrangements made, Sweetie Drops left for home and Index went back to the dwindling party. It was not long before Pinkie Pie showed amazing restraint and actually ended the affair and sent everypony home.

Once the last pony was out the door, Pinkie Pie appeared as mysteriously at Index's side as earlier today. "Now comes the after-party where we stay up all night playing games and telling each other about ourselves."

"Err…" Index was avoiding Pinkie Pie's face, trying to come up with some excuse. "Do we have to? I'm pretty tired from the trip and the party."

"Okie Dokie Loki." Relief came to Index but was cut short when Pinkie Pie added, "We don't have to play games. Now come on, I'll show you to our room."

"_Our _room?" asked Index, resisting a groan.

"Yeah! The Cakes don't have any other extra rooms, what with the restaurant and the kitchen but our room's not so small that you need to worry about it."

This called for the Royal Breathing Exercises that Cadance had taught Index.

"Ooh! That looks interesting!" Pinkie Pie mirrored Index's hoof movements and breathing. "Oh! That's _so_ relaxing! I'll have to do this before bed every night!"

The door to their room opened to reveal a modestly sized bedroom just big enough for two. Index had expected it to be as chaotic as the mare it belonged to, but it appeared that Pinkie Pie was either naturally tidy or had cleaned up the day before. Stashed in far corner of the room were the beds.

_Nice! Bunk be– Why am I still excited about that? Twilight, you're way past your filly years._

"Do you want the top bunk?"

With a hybrid of a jump and a float, Index landed on the top bunk as her answer. Across the room she spied her luggage Pinkie Pie had taken at the train station. Not that it mattered. Everything important was stored extra-dimensionally; the luggage was just to say she had some without exposing her spellcasting talent.

From below came the sound of Pinkie Pie squeezing under her blankets.

"Hey, Index. Why have you been avoiding magic all night?"

Taken off guard by the unexpected question, Index delayed a little too long before she responded, "What do you mean?"

"Well, earlier when you were getting a refill of punch for yourself and Vinyl, your horn lit up for the tiniest fraction of a second and then went out. You've been doing that all night and all day, but only when it would make sense to be using some magic or another, not randomly."

"How odd…" was all Index said, while thinking, _This mare is unnaturally observant._

She had made a preliminary scan of Pinkie Pie in secret earlier and each and every test had supported the position that Pinkie Pie was a regular earth pony. No special magic, no enchantments, no anything that could explain the weirdness.

"I don't have an answer. I could make guesses, but nothing better. What about you?"

"What about what about me?"

"You are… I don't even know. You're really fast or something and who knows what else."

Pinkie Pie giggled and said, "Of course I am. How else would I be able to throw such great parties and bring smiles to everypony in town and stuff?"

Even expecting a non-answer, that still made Index scowl. "Whatever. I'll figure it out on my own." _Hopefully._

"So, where are you from?"

"Canterlot."

"Oh. You know Vinyl and Lyra are from Canterlot. We get a lot of visitors from there passing through but nopony ever stays for very long.

"Myself, I was born on a rock farm south of Dodge Junction. My dad's Igneous Rock and is pretty stuffy and spends all day digging up rocks, rocks, and more rocks. My mom's Cloudy Quartz and she's _so_ strict that I couldn't wait to leave home. She didn't even want me to throw parties! I have three sisters, Marble, Limestone, and Maud. The first two are a lot like dad but Maud is _way_ different. She's super quiet and reserved but once you get past that she's the life of the party.

"Most of the ponies here were born in Ponyville but Caramel and Action Shot moved here from just outside the badlands. Though I never met them before coming here, they're the closest thing to friends from home in town for me. What about your family?"

"…There's my parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece, and colt." _This is going to be a _long _night._

"You're a mom? What about your super special somepony?" Taking Index's sigh as having asked the wrong question, Pinkie verbosely apologized for bringing up a missing partner.

"There's nopony missing, dead, estranged, or otherwise out of touch with me. My colt is adopted. And before you start up again, there was no tragedy."

"Oh! How old is he?"

"Nine."

"He must be adorable!"

"Yes, he is. Very much so. But he's also a troublemaker. Even more so when he's with his cousin. Though they're nothing compared to the stories I heard tonight about the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Those fillies really know how to have fun! Just a few days ago they put on a huge rock show for all of Ponyville and the week before that they set fire to the pond across town and before that–"

"Come again?"

"You didn't hear about that one? It's probably the bestest, most exciting, mind-boggling thing they've done yet. It all started ten days ago when Diamond Tiara bet that they couldn't jump the pond…"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Zen Cheng You is a little known card game that needs more love. I have reproduced the rules here: blog/302554/zen-cheng-you-that-game-know-one-knew


	4. Chapter Three - The Dishonest

"_You promised! There's no going back now!"_

* * *

The slow tolling of midnight resounded throughout the hall.

Twilight found herself back in what seemed like Canterlot Castle. The architecture was all the same, but it was otherwise unrecognizable. It was as if the interior designer, in a fit of artistic angst, decided that the sun motif had been overplayed and decided to experiment with stars.

A crowd of anonymous ponies was arrayed before her. It was almost as if she were at open court.

_Oh, buck. I _am _at court. What possessed me to come here?_

Looking over the assembled ponies, nopony seemed familiar nor could Twilight remember some specific plea she was interested in.

Turning on her lesser throne, she directed her attention to the black alicorn seated above her. Her ethereal mane fluttered endlessly in an absent breeze and gave it an even dreamier quality than the stars contained in it could alone.

"What am I doing here, Nightmare Moon?" Something about that question felt off.

The alicorn looked quizzically back at Twilight. "What else would you be doing here, my faithful slave? I am subjecting you further to your personalized torture. I just love how you squirm with every pony you must deal with calmly and civilly."

"What?" It all came back to Twilight. She was Nightmare Moon's plaything and always had been. _How could I forget?_

"Oh, and later tonight I thought it would be entertaining to give you to that one guard. You know, the one that does not understand the meaning of 'no' or 'get lost.'"

The horrified look in Twilight's eyes spoke for her and filled Nightmare Moon with mirth.

"I– I– You can't…"

"Oh, but I can and will. And I think that for that little outburst you need to be taught a lesson."

Nightmare Moon summoned a large stack of papers Twilight was intimately familiar with and carefully selected one and put the rest away. Her horn glowed a little bit brighter and the parchment caught fire, burning slowly and crackling with maleficence.

"My research!"

Twilight leaped from her throne to take the sheet of parchment and tried to stamp out the fire with her hooves but it kept spreading in defiance of her every effort. Her first instinct had been to use her magic but found that it was being blocked somehow.

Watching the last bit of surviving paper crumble away, Twilight feel to her knees and sobbed.

_All that work. My life's ambition. Gone._

Twilight looked up, her tears stopped and a fire in her eyes. _No. Most of it's still left. It's just a little setback. I just need to–_

"Tsk tsk, my faithful slave. You clearly haven't learned your lesson. As much as I was looking forward to burning this all slowly, piece by piece, I think a more provocative image is in order."

The remaining pile reappeared, was ignited, and crumbled to ash all at once in an inferno that reached all the way to the ceiling of the throne room.

Index awoke crying.

* * *

_After all those horror stories, I never imagined the Everfree would be so dull. I'm so glad I brought work with me; it is comparatively _better _than the alternative._

Daisy was working at a desk and chair the princess had been gracious enough to summon. The two of them were alone in the old castle where Princess Celestia was engaged in weaving the kind of epic-level spellwork only ponies like her and Twilight could understand. It was at times like this that Daisy desperately wished she could learn just by watching.

Daisy's role was to sit around wearing Magic. The princess had offered to take her back to Canterlot until tonight's work was finished, but Daisy had passed on the chance. She had a lot of stuff to do that she could do alone and she didn't want to abandon the princess in the Everfree, for what little her presence counted.

Or maybe she just wanted to spend more time with the princess. Twilight was nice – adorkable really underneath all the sour – but there was no substitute for the pony she idolized during her time at said pony's school. When this was over there probably would not be a chance for her to spend time with the princess like this again.

Either way, it had seemed odd that they should need to ferry Magic at all. Especially since the forest had a reputation for tearing apart regular neat and ordinary magic, even alicorn magic, without an element around. The explanation the princess had given was essentially the same as the question.

"Think about what would happen if Twilight needed to use Magic and did not return it before we tried to teleport in," the princess had said. "That is resolvable, although it would annoy Twilight to no end, but consider if some treasure hunter decided to remove it while we were out or something similar.

"Naturally, the probability of anything like that happening is low, but its a silly risk to introduce when it is trivially avoided altogether. I have no wish to suffer such a calamity again, and it would kill you outright.

"As for how we shall preserve our work, there is a delightful spell called the failsafe spell that has the same effect as the elements. However its potency is negligible in comparison and it is not good for the kind of detail work required here. That said, I am nothing if not a large magical reserve so I can supercharge the spell to keep the forest at bay while we are absent."

Another anonymous roar came from outside the castle. It was shortly followed by the scream of some poor animal falling victim to a hungry predator. By now, it barely caused Daisy to glance up from her work.

_Princess uninterrupted. Nothing dangerous around. No problems._

Daisy considered returning to her latest tax reform - a minor bill a noble bloc pushed through the senate on the coattails of a more popular one – but then replaced her quill in its inkwell.

_I think I've had enough of this nonsense. I need a 'rejected' stamp._

The throne room echoed with the screech of Daisy's chair as she arose and sent small debris scattering. She walked across the hall and floated herself up to gaze out of the gaping opening that had once housed an enormous stained glass window but now had only shattered remains. As uninviting as it was, the forest held a certain beauty when seen from above.

As she hovered, Daisy realized just how effortlessly she was carrying her own weight.

_I wonder what I can do with Magic. There's so many spells I just didn't have the strength for._

Daisy started listing to herself all of the spells she wanted to try in the next few weeks. Around the middle of the list, a singular thought ate away at her.

_What could I do if Magic were mine?_

Princess Celestia had made it explicitly clear to Daisy that she was only borrowing a small fraction of the strength it lent Twilight. The elements did not like being shared.

"It is an interesting forest, is it not?"

The sudden break in the silence from the princess's voice caused Daisy to jink from her steady levitation and face plant into the wall. She could hear the princess laughing behind her.

"…I suppose so. Although I wouldn't much care for living here."

"Yes, and you would not be alone in that regard. If you were, the capital might still be here in the Everfree."

That gave Daisy pause. _It makes sense. This _is _the old castle after all. But the forest…_

Daisy was about to drop down to the floor when she noticed that the princess had joined her and was now standing on the windowsill.

Landing next to her, Daisy asked, "Was the forest…not evil back then?"

"Indeed. It was once a lush, green wood. It was Luna's and my fight that corrupted this place. I usually deflect the question and lay responsibility at Discord's…claws, hoof, and paw, but there is no need to do so with you.

"We fought one another for over a season, engaging in skirmishes as we slowly destroyed each other's safe houses. For all her strength, I actually managed to knock out all of Luna's first and forced her to retreat to the moon between fights."

"So?" The princess seemed confused. "I mean, couldn't you have just followed her?"

The princess looked away and seemed to be biting her lip. Daisy had never seen her react so openly. The tip of her horn glowed ever so faintly.

"We fought one another for over a season, slowly eroding each other's safe houses as we fought minor skirmishes. I even managed to knock out all of hers first; she was too focused on trying to rid herself of me immediately the first several weeks. Unfortunately, I learned to my dismay just how strong she had become.

"Our final battle was nearby, directly over the Everfree. As symbolic as it would be to say the chaos of the forest came from our breaking hearts, it is merely the result of the scraps of our spells that seeped into the background magic and have had a thousand years to permanently change the forest to what you see now."

"Then how did she end up being banished in here?"

"I was nearly finished and arranged for myself to be struck into the castle, through the window two to our left actually, and I tried one last surprise. Using my connection to Magic, I recalled all of Luna's elements–"

"Shouldn't you have done that earlier? Like at the start of the rebellion."

"You are almost as bad as Twilight," Princess Celestia scolded.

"I'm sorry."

"It is alright. Anyway, there was little need. My sister's elements were essentially useless in a fight. They gave her a small boost in magical strength and a few tricks, but not enough to push the war in one direction or the other. Moreover, I did not need her any angrier at me than she already was. I was still hoping for a peaceful resolution even as I steeled myself to banish her.

"I recalled her elements and then used – and broke – the full set to banish her. She was so shocked that I chose _then_ to take her elements that she never saw it coming."

The quiet of the castle and the winds rolling through the trees reclaimed the conversation. It did not seem right to say anything right now. To Daisy's well-trained eye it was obvious that the princess was hurting at the recall of perhaps the worst moment of her life.

Many minutes passed. The princess appeared to be observing how time had changed certain sections of the forest based on the movements of her eyes.

"…I should get back to work," whispered Princess Celestia.

* * *

When Index awoke, Pinkie Pie was already at her side and holding her hoof, but she was too distracted to freak out.

_That was one weird dream._

A chilly draft blew in from an open window. The cold, tear dampened hair on her face sent a shiver through Index.

"Are you feeling any better?" Pinkie Pie asked, tightening her grip.

Applying her after-shower telekinesis, Index dried her face.

"I'm fine. Just a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not at all."

Pinkie Pie did not let go. Instead she started staring in the oddest way Index had ever seen. It sort of looked intimidating, but was ruined by the rest of pink pony's atmosphere.

"What are you doing?"

"Aw, I guess only Fluttershy can do The Stare."

Left confused, Index watched Pinkie Pie fall to the ground and only then wondered how she managed to be there to begin with. A quick glance over the bed revealed no supports of any kind. There was just Pinkie Pie.

"How did–" Index cut herself off when she remembered who she was dealing with. _No way am I getting a real answer out of her. Might as well file away 'The Stare' too. Note to Self: Visit one 'Fluttershy' to ask about 'The Stare'._

Pinkie Pie looked back up at Index and their eyes met. "Are you really, super duper sure you don't want to talk about it? One time, my sister Marble was having these really bad nightmares and they really started getting to her until one day she ended up in the hospital in a mining accident she caused. She has a permanent hole through her left hind leg now. During her stay in the hospital some ponies finally got her to talk about her problems and then all the nightmares went away."

"Ugh. Yes I'm sure. Just go back to be– Actually, you know everypony in town, right?"

"Yep-er-rooney. Even the grumpy old Cranky Doodle Donkey on the outskirts of town, although he was a tough nut to crack. I had to find his long lost love to get him to finally admit to being my friend and before that I went through this whole big shebang and that's not even–"

"Pinkie!" Index had had enough of this.

Pinkie Pie gasped. "That's the first time you've called me just as Pinkie! I'm finally getting through to you!"

A facehoof later, Index requested, "Can you _please_ stop going on tangents?"

"That has not worked out well in the past. Like the pony that asked me to do that two times ago– oh, I'm already doing it."

"Just– Just try, I guess." Index sighed before continuing. "What I wanted to ask was, do you think you could come up with a list of ponies in town that exemplify a specific character trait? Like kindness."

"Well, if you're looking for kind ponies then you need look no further than Fluttershy," answered Pinkie Pie without missing a beat. "Hmm, but so are Applejack, and Derpy, and Rose, and Doctor Hooves, and Bon Bon, and– and anypony really. Everypony in Ponyville is kind in one way or another although some of them don't like to show it."

"I don't know what I was expecting," Index mumbled to herself. "She has the same problem filtering out 'regular kindness' as I do." _I guess she did focus in on Fluttershy. I'll have to follow up on that today._

Interrupting Pinkie Pie who was still rambling about kind ponies, Index said, "Nevermind about kindness. What about generosity, loyalty, honesty, and laughter?"

Pinkie Pie gasped again. Unlike the previous one, this one was by far the single most exaggerated gasp Index had ever heard, clocking in at well over a minute. After the drama was over she started skipping around the room.

_I have a bad feeling about this…_

Index put up the standard series of forty-nine privacy spells for the ultra paranoid as Pinkie Pie engaged in her small romp.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Pinkie Pie quietly shouted. "You have The Elements of Harmony, don't you!"

"…Yes. I suppose it doesn't really matter that you know so long as you _do not_ spread that information around. It will help me out a lot if I don't have to hide my actions around you."

"I Pinkie Promise I won't reveal any of your secrets. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Seeing Pinkie Pie stick a hoof into her eye elicited a raised brow from Index, but she let it pass as another odd quirk of the pony.

"I have to ask though, how did you know about them?"

A giggle, and then Pinkie Pie said, "There's a book on them in Golden Oaks Library."

"Why is there a book there but not in the Canterlot Archives! I even dug through the forgotten areas of the restricted sections!"

"Shh," Pinkie Pie sounded with an accompanying hoof on her mouth. "Ponies are still sleeping."

Grumbling, Index retorted, "I put up wards while you were running around. We could set off an explosion and nopony would hear a thing."

"But I can hear you just fine," Pinkie Pie snarked.

"Nopony _outside_ would hear. Do you know if anypony else has read that book?"

"Not likely. I was the only pony that checked it out in a few hundred years according to the log inside it. Which is odd since Ponyville is only sixty-something years old. Whoever was the librarian before Rhyme must have reused the log when the book was moved to Golden Oaks.

"But who cares about that!" Pinkie Pie rushed over to her closet and started throwing clothes out until she shouted, "Eureka!" and changed into a mismatch of a deerstalker with pipe, a giant foam sword strapped to her back, and a black shinobi shōzoku.

_That…looks like a real ninja outfit…_ Index momentarily entertained ninja mastery being responsible for Pinkie Pie's odd abilities but just as quickly dismissed it. _Even being a ninja isn't enough to fully explain her._

Pinkie Pie put her pipe to her lips and produced several bubbles from the other end, placing one hoof on her jaw and appearing thoughtful.

"Yes, yes. This is a quest if ever I saw one, my dear Index. It will require cunning, stealth, and probably strength. Whether of mind, heart, or body I do not know. But fear not! Pinkie Pie is here and I shall help you bear this burden."

"Pinkie Pie, the most helpful thing you could do is direct me towards potential bearers. The rest I need to deal with on my own."

"Don't be silly, Index!" Pinkie Pie admonished, extending her sword. "On a quest you need a party with you" – Index facehoofed – "and I guarantee that you won't find a better party pony in Equestria. By the way, are you the bearer for the Element of Magic or do you have a friend somewhere already working on the main quest?"

Exhaling, Index stated, "Yes I am, but there's no adventuring that needs doing and thus no adventuring party that needs forming. If you want adventure, join EIS."

Her sword sagging to the floor, Pinkie Pie responded, "No thanks. I mean, I'm sure their work is important and all that, but I don't think I could do it. And now that you mention them, I don't really know much about who you are. Everything you've told me could be just a cover for your true identity as the best field agent in the history of Equestria! This could all be an elaborate disguise. You could be a shape changer. You might not even be a mare! Not that I mind sharing my room anyway so long as you keep your hooves to yourself. Perhaps you're also not a pony! But you have magic so it would have to be a unicorn-like species."

Pinkie Pie had grown more and more excited and ended up hanging off of the top bunk, locking eyes with Index, and asking in a perfectly serious tone, "Are you a seapony?"

"No, I'm not a seapony. I don't work for EIS. And I assure you I am one hundred percent female, or at least I usually am. I– Wait a second. Shape changer? How do you even know that magic exists? No wait, let me guess. You noticed some minor physical changes in somepony the same way you noticed me avoided using magic."

"Yep! You catch on quickly. At first I was like, 'wow, she must be going through a growth spurt or something,' but then the changes happened again but in reverse and everyday there's these little minor differences so I figured something must be up so I started asking around and heard about the polymorph spell from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that works in Princess Celestia's school."

_Okay, we need to reevaluate this pony. We can't keep putting it off for petty reasons like her existence being unnatural. Which is totally not the right word. Nothing that exists is unnatural._

_Hold up, Opposition. We're in the middle of a conversation._

_Oh, right._

Teleporting out of her covers and past the obstructing mare, Index reappeared on the floor standing upright. A few conjurations later and she had a table, two chairs and everything necessary to brew a Celestia quality cup of tea.

Turning to invite Pinkie Pie to sit down, Index discovered she had already vanished from the beds and was unsurprised to find she had already taken her seat, the front of her chair in the tight grip of her forehooves's earth pony magic.

"That was super cool!" Pinkie Pie said while vibrating rapidly.

Filling the teapot with summoned water with a mineral composition consistent with a typical spring, Index asked, "Are you okay? You seem to be…oscillating."

Her huge smile was answer enough, but Pinkie Pie added, "Never better."

"Alright then. We need to have a proper talk and a friend of mine always says there's nothing better to talk over than hoof brewed tea."

The conversation broke off as Index went about preparing the tea.

_So, we've bought ourselves some time to think,_ Opposition said, _now let's answer the question. What do we think about Pinkie Pie?_

_Insane._

_No, that can't be right. However much she leaves out, or however many intuitive leaps she makes, her behavior and conclusions are directed and _right_. She's odd, but no more than we are, although in the party and social direction rather than the magic and asocial one._

_Fine. Extremely Observant._

_No arguments there. Any ideas on how? A good eye isn't enough to explain noticing a polymorph's minor variations. Our magically assisted vision wouldn't even pick up on that._

_Earth pony magic? We don't really know a whole lot about it, but it is strongly expressed internally._

_Are you seriously suggesting that Pinkie Pie is a master of magic?_

_Perhaps not a master, but certainly at least innately talented. No amount of pure physical ability would permit her to clean up a train station in a blink of an eye or reliably notice magical pulses on the scale of milliseconds or reach her speeds of travel. And besides that, earth pony magic is largely unstudied outside of their martial arts. Their culture has never been interested in it and most unicorns scoff at the very thought._

_I guess we can't discount it as a possibility. But does she really have the calm and patience to use earth pony magic? The martial arts masters are very clear that a mind at peace is necessary._

_Oh, what do they know. If she's using earth magic then she's clearly taken it to a whole new level. We can probably throw out any rules normally associated with it. Besides, she's waiting patiently enough now_, Advocate remarked as Index steeped the tea.

_Point taken. Other ideas?_

_A relative of Discord. …That sounded less disturbing and ominous before I said it._

_Ehem. I think we can put that down as unlikely. Celestia has no foals – that we know of – and she hasn't given EIS the order to investigate Luna's descendants, so I'm guessing gods don't reproduce._

_Just putting it out there, we should investigate that at some point. Dragons do and, although technically not immortal in the same sense, they don't die of age._

_Yeah, whatever. _Now pouring the tea, Opposition moved things along quickly. _What do we want to do with her? Besides experimental subject. She's not getting out of that._

_Well, I think we agree that she's a lot less scary now that we at least have an idea concerning how she works. If we can tone down our impulses to lash out every time she surprises us, it would be useful to pursue a friendship right now and probably in the future._

_She's our total opposite. It's not going to work._

_They say opposites attract._

_They also say pegasaii of a feather flock together._

_Look, we're here to make friends and we're not going to find any asocial magical geniuses to trade research notes with._

_We're here to make _five _friends, and that doesn't mean we need to reach this far afield._

_Can we at least _try _for now and reevaluate when we have more time? It's not like we can mess up with Pinkie Pie, the 'friend of everypony'._

…_Fine._

Tea in magic, Index sat down and sent Pinkie Pie's share across the table to her. Index took her first sip to mild satisfaction. She never managed to do as good of a job as Celestia and that always ruined the taste for her.

"So…Pinkie." Index was interrupted by a squee from Pinkie Pie, but she quickly calmed down. "In taking advantage of your help and more importantly your silence, I would be remiss to not be more honest with you. But before that, I would like to know who the local polymorph is and how long you believe she's been here."

A quick, confused look passed over Pinkie Pie's face before she answered, "Lyra Heartstrings. She's been here six years, one season, and twenty-two days."

Index nearly choked on her tea. "…That's very accurate. And suspicious. Do you know anything about memory magic?"

"Yep. I am technically a government employee and all government employees get that super boring lecture on the more dangerous spells in the world. I don't really get why I needed to attend it though. I'm not really in a position to do anything particularly problematic for anypony.

"And for some reason I got the longest version of the lecture too so it included the warning about ponies in disguise – I thought they were talking about illusions before I noticed Lyra – as well and how they're usually up to no good. But Lyra's my friend and she's a super nice pony so I've never said anything about it and it wouldn't be very nice if you did."

"We'll see. I happen to have a meeting arranged with her tonight, so I'll determine what I need to do then. Actually, let me check something real quick."

A small piece of parchment appeared in front of Index and she quickly composed a letter and sent it off in a burst of flame. The unicorn version of the flame sending spell was nowhere near as quick as the dragon version, nor did it have as much range, but it was a lot faster than the alternatives short of teleporting to Canterlot herself.

After a few quiet, tea filled minutes, the response arrived in a similar blaze. Index picked the message up and read through a list of changelings in Ponyville. She showed the short list of ponies to Pinkie and asked who each was. Aside from one Mr. Breezy who owned a local shop which no doubt doubled as a sanctuary where changelings could relax, all of the local hive members were functioning as migrant farmhooves on Sweet Apple Acres.

"So, what do all these ponies have in common that they're on a list?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Index briefly debated whether or not to say anything. On one hoof, the answer was classified and unrelated to her or her mission. On the other, the information was harmless. It was by request of Queen Chrysalis that the changelings were kept secret.

"I might as well tell you, but understand that you will have a queen very angry at you if you start spreading this around. They're changelings. A changeling is sort of like a natural polymorph. The hive – you can sort of think of them as bugs mixed with ponies – that's been invited to stay in Equestria only came here four years ago, but I wanted to check anyway."

"Whoa! That is so super duper cool! I need to throw them a welcome to Eq–"

"No." Index pushed Pinkie Pie back down into her chair rather roughly; she thought the earth pony would slip out of anything weaker. "They have expressly told us they wish to remain secret. You will _not_ be holding a party of any kind featuring anything to do with changelings including having one specifically for changelings."

"But! But! Party!"

Still holding Pinkie Pie, Index shook her head. "You'll just have to let this one go. I can't let you break an international agreement just for a party. Even if I also think they should come out into the open. Understood?"

Even as her hair deflated from its cotton candy style to completely straight, Pinkie Pie continued to vibrate rapidly in her telekinetic grip. It felt weird and was becoming a bit alarming.

"Pinkie, do you get it? No parties."

A few hairs regained their curl at Index's use of just Pinkie Pie's first name, but she still got a gloomy nod.

_If I didn't turn into a white-coated flaming pony when I get really mad, I'd say that that hair is proof of her non-ponyness. Note to Self: Study the relation between emotion and magic: confirmed second sample._

"What do I need to do to cheer you up?" Index asked with a sigh, releasing Pinkie Pie. "Besides letting you throw them a party."

No response came.

"How about you can when they come out of hiding? They could keep the game up forever – they're good at it – but I doubt they will."

A few more locks of Pinkie Pie's hair reverted and she looked a little less depressed, but apparently it was not enough.

"And we have one in our custody that you could throw a bunch of parties for so long as you only invited ponies already in the know."

"Really?" With the question came bright eyes and springy hair.

_Heh. Esp, for the low price of one fixed cello, you are so useful._ "Yep. Everypony's really busy right now, but I should be able to pull him away from work for a night in a couple weeks."

Pinkie Pie crossed her forelegs and nodded. "I guess that will just have to do."

"Now getting back to our main conversation, feel free to ask me anything. I'm willing to answer most any relevant question."

"I want to know the big one! Who are you really?"

Index melted her disguise and reshaped herself into her usual appearance. "Twilight Sparkle. I would introduce myself further, but I fear my reputation will proceed me."

With an explosion of energy even more wild than when she found out about the elements, Pinkie Pie was literally bouncing off of the walls saying 'oh my gosh' over and over again. In a blur, she returned to her seat but unlike before was balancing on top of the backing.

"I knew it was going to be a doozy, but that is soooo cool. I want to throw you a proper party soooo bad, but I can't break a Pinkie Promise."

Genuinely surprised, Twilight asked, "Wait, do you actually have a _good_ impression of me?"

"Of course! Everypony does! The half of town that doesn't idolize you is in love with you!"

"…Well that's new."

"How is that new? It's like that all over Equestria!"

"What? But– That doesn't– I mean, just a couple nights ago– The bellcolts– Astral– And before then– I don't understand. Are you telling me I'm popular? Everypony I talk to is always scared of me, hates me, or works for me."

"Wow, you don't get out much, do you?" Twilight nodded weakly. "That explains a lot actually. You and your brother are the shining" – Pinkie Pie giggled a bit – "example of what the common pony can accomplish with merit as opposed to a noble's birthrights. For Celestia's sake, you stand side by side with the princess herself at public events!"

Twilight collapsed into her chair and dropped her tea onto the floor. Without even blinking, she repaired the cup and placed it on the table and buried her head in her hooves.

"Pinkie, I need some time to absorb that, but I still need you to not tell anypony about me. Hero worship and suitors would probably be even less productive than fear or intimidation."

"Take all the time you need," replied Pinkie Pie, only now deciding to calm down and take a long drink of tea. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

* * *

Three knocks of a gavel came.

"I call this meetin' of tha Cutie Mark Crusaders ta order," Apple Bloom said. Behind her lay the Crusaders's broken clubhouse and the somehow still smoldering remains of a trebuchet. "As ya know, tha mayor is real upset with us 'n said we can't do anything like our usual stuff fer tha rest 'a tha next few weeks."

"It was your fault," Scootaloo accused. "Your design didn't work."

"Now, now," Apple Bloom said, hooves held up in apology. "I admit tha' I was partially at fault. Ma latest work worked just fine. I just forgot ta account fer tha trees."

Scootaloo had her forelegs crossed, "In other words, it didn't work."

"Well, who was tha pegasus tha' messed up 'er glide 'n dropped all tha' in tha trees ta begin with?"

"Fillies," Sweetie Belle said, stepping in between the earth pony and the pegasus. It was always so much work to get them to make nice after a failure. "It was nopony's fault. We just have to be more careful in the future. Okay?"

With a huff, the two fillies looked away from each other.

After a moment, Apple Bloom continued her introduction, "So, tha show we put on went o'er pretty well, though I wish it weren't a comedy. But tha's just tha kind 'a thing we can do righ' now. Does anypony have any ideas fer today?"

"Yeah, I've got a whole bunch."

"Well, go ahead 'n share, Scoots."

"We could try stilts."

"No," said Sweetie Belle. "The mayor would not be happy about that. Remember how wrong the pogo sticks went?"

"Hey! They're popular in other cities," Apple Bloom said in defense of her invention. "We e'en get a lot 'a funding from tha royalties."

"Yeah, anyways, we could try pet-sitting."

"Rarity is allergic to most pets," Sweetie Belle countered. "She would have a conniption if I came home covered in dog hair or anything but cat hair really. Fluttershy has to take a bath every time they want to get together."

"Well, what about mountain climbing?"

"We don't have a moun'in ta climb."

"I guess. Then how about just reading?"

"Really, Scoots? Readin'? Tha's a new one. Did Dash pick up a book or somethin'?"

"Well fine. If you're going to be like that then never mind. I just thought we needed to expand our activities since none of us have gotten a cutie mark yet. I didn't really want to anyways."

_I wouldn't mind reading…_ Sweetie Belle thought to herself.

"How about making sweets?"

"I'm rather more on tha side 'a consumption. Besides, tha Cakes's and Bon-Bon's grub would be way better'n wha'e'er we cook up."

"Well, then I'm out of ideas."

"Wha' 'bout you, Sweetie Belle?"

"I have been busy helping my sister so I have not had any time to come up with anything."

"Okay, then hows 'bout we help out _my_ sister. Applejack was lookin' fer help with corrallin' tha cows earlier."

Sweetie Belle looked over to Scootaloo and they both nodded to each other and then to Apple Bloom. In unison, they shouted their oft changing motto.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Corralers, Yay!"

* * *

Los Pegasus, the city where the stars shine night and day. The city where they are born and where they die. The city where the magic of film was created. The city where dreams come true.

"I love you Silver Bell!"

"You're the greatest!"

"Show me one of your thousand faces!"

"Say that one line from planet of the humans!"

"Marry me!"

The actor in question was walking down the red carpet to the Academy Awards with her recent costar, the ruggedly handsome Star Shadow. She was the biggest thing to hit film since its invention and her title 'Lady of a Thousand Faces' was well earned from her expert incorporation of magic into her flawless acting.

"I'm starting to wonder if I should have agreed to be your date," Shadow teased. "Nopony ever gets any attention around you."

Leaning in closer and eliciting several squeals from the audience – some jealous, some not – she laid it on extra thick and whispered in Shadow's ear, "Oh, lighten up. The crowd loves you too, but you were the villain. Maybe you should be insulted that they aren't booing you."

"Heh, maybe. I think I'd rather avoid that though."

The inside of the Darfur Theater was no quieter than outside as the cheering of the crowd continued in an endless barrage for the next actors. As the two were checking in their _very_ unnecessary summer coats, the call of a traitor came.

"If you would excuse me for a moment."

"Where are you going?" Shadow asked. "It won't be long until the show begins."

"I know, but there's something I have to take care of. I'll join you at our seats before long."

Entering the women's bathroom and heading straight into an open stall, Chrysalis poked at the unpleasant intrusion into the hive bond.

"_What do you want, Tarsus? This better be important._"

Tarsus's sigh echoed all across the hive, showing how completely out of practice the traitor was at communicating.

"_I have Princess Celestia on the other end. She needs to talk with you. I'm just relaying for her._"

Chrysalis mellowed knowing she was not going to be talking with the scum of the hive in the strictest sense.

"_Can this wait?_"

"_No, not really. Time is a huge factor now._"

"_Very well, just repeat my words as usual then. Greetings, princess. To what do I owe this visit?_"

"'_I have bad news and a request. The news is that I have a younger sister, Luna, who is coming home in about three weeks after a thousand years. While I would normally be overjoyed about that, she is almost certainly seeking to take the throne and is quite possibly…well, there is a reason why the word 'lunatic' means insane._'"

Stunned, Chrysalis said nothing.

"_Are you still there?_"

"…_Yes._"

"_Alright then. 'I would like to recruit as much of your hive as you can spare into EIS until this is resolved. We _must _avert a full scale war, civil or otherwise. Whatever happens between Luna and I must stay just between us or the world will suffer immensely. Our last battle led to the creation of the Alicorn Accord and progenerated the Everfree Forest. The war leading up to it was no better.'_"

"_Of course we shall help. We are thriving in Equestria and would sooner feed solely on hatred than see it plunged into chaos. I wish I could put the entire hive and myself at your service, but many of us have permanent identities now and at least a quarter of us must continue to gather and disperse food and I by far produce the most._"

A huge pause passed before Tarsus spoke again.

"_Sorry for the wait. I was explaining the cultural significance of eating hate. Anyways, 'You have my deepest gratitude, Queen Chrysalis._

"'…_It is strange. Before Twilight brought your hive to my attention, I had heard of changelings. Very rarely, of course, but I knew you existed and most of what I knew was bad. Honestly, I was going to remove_'" – communication broke off and Chrysalis assumed Tarsus was commenting on the princess's thoughts – "'_remove you from Equestria, but Twilight convinced me to let you stay._

"'_I was hesitant at first, but it was not long before I really changed my mind. I think it was your acting career that did it. Twilight and I have a movie night roughly every three weeks and your work often makes an appearance._'"

"_Why are you telling me this?_"

"'_Because, although I can not die, I can be restrained. I may not be around to say these things in the foreseeable future, and I would hate to leave them unsaid._

"'_But enough sentiment. We are rulers and we have much to do. I have one last thing to ask before I let you get back to receiving your awards._'"

"_I have not actually won any yet_," Chrysalis corrected.

"'_Oh, please. Three years in a row and you keep getting better as you pick up Equestrian culture. As my little ponies would say, you're a shoo-in._'"

After a few giggles that Tarsus may or may not have repeated, Chrysalis said, "_I suppose you are right about that. Now what were you saying before that?_"

"'_Oh, yes. If you could, we would appreciate it if you would bring other hives in on this. If you can bring them to Equestria, that is fine; we shall welcome them with open hooves. Espionage–' Interrupting for a moment. If you didn't know, that's my codename around here. Moving on, '–has informed me of the many difficulties involved with such an undertaking so we shall not expect success, but if you would try, we would appreciate it._'"

"_I shall see what I can do, but Tarsus is correct in saying that it is unlikely to work._"

"'_My thanks. Goodbye then, and if we have time, I should like one last movie night with you invited._'"

"_I'm sure I, at least, can find the time. I shall see you then._"

Chrysalis felt the hive bond with Tarsus subdue once again to an unintelligible murmur.

_And I thought that tonight would be so relaxing._

She sighed and exited the lavatory while giving quick orders over the hive mind to her direct subordinates.

_But, if I've learned anything in Equestria, it's delegation. I should be able to enjoy the ceremony at least._

* * *

Index had little time to ponder how much magic she should use to not die. Quickly, she settled on an old favorite and levitated herself several meters into the air to watch the disaster unfold below her.

_What in Equestria is a stampede doing in town?_

Downstream of the rampaging cattle, she could see three fillies, one of each pony species, desperately trying to stop, or at least redirect, the stampede. In the other direction at the front was a fully grown orange earth pony mare having much more success at adverting damage to the town.

_There's no way I can magic up an instant fix to this and not draw undue attention. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let the mare handle this. She seems competent._

Index went back to watching the fillies, not having anything else to do until the danger passed. Now that she had a closer look, the earth filly was actually doing quite well. Her well timed kicks intertwined in her gallop managed to prod several diverging cows back into line. However, she was not short of mud on her light orange coat and seemed to be collecting more as she ran beside the actual road through Ponyville.

_Probably sisters._

The pegasus was keeping up, if nothing else. She was using a bizarre, but brilliant, combination of wings and scooter to move fast enough to consider her part of the stampede.

_Hmm… Her primary feathers look like they're crippled. That would explain the scooter, I suppose. I think I need to have a talk with the health care department. That should be fixable._

The unicorn was doing less well. Far less well. Clearly the least athletic of the trio, she was panting for breath as she struggled to keep pace on her roller skates powered by both muscle and magic.

_Clever. Reminds me a bit of myself._

As she passed underneath, the unicorn looked up at Index and ran into the mayor's dossier Index had dropped in surprise. Eyes wide, she twisted her head around as she fell to see if she was about to be crushed.

Reacting immediately, Index plucked the filly of off the ground and held her suspended in midair. She had her eyes closed and her neck covered with her hooves to supplement the protection her helmet offered. In a few seconds, she cautiously lifted her head.

Surprisingly enough, the filly did not flail around but the horrified look on her face revealed that she was terrified at the unexpected rescue.

"Oh please– oh please, don't let me– fall whatever fluke– saved me," the unicorn whispered, breathing heavily.

Turning the filly to her, Index reassured, "Relax. You're safe." Pulling her white, pink, and purple prize up to eye level, she continued with a small smile, "Luckily enough."

"T-Thank you so much!" the filly shouted in between gasps. "I was so scared– that that was going– to be the– the end of me."

"No need to thank me. You did stumble on something I dropped and it looked like I distracted you as well." As she explained, Index subtly cast a spell to help the filly recover her energy.

"Well, this stampede is kind of, sort of, a little bit our fault…"

Index set the white coated filly on her back and managed to nuzzle her with some difficulty.

_This seems so familiar. Good times…_

"You don't need to worry about that right now. I know how scary it is to be near death. Whatever part you played in this, just forget about it for now."

Looking down now that the stampede had passed, Index found that the dossier had been crushed, broken, shredded, and dispersed. Leaving it behind, she flew herself back towards the tail end of the stampede.

"Where are we going?"

"Well, so long as I've saved one life, I might as well make sure nopony else gets into any trouble. Your friends will probably be worried when they realize you're missing too, so I'll give you a lift along the way."

"Whoa! You are like a hero!"

"Like?" Index felt she deserved more than that.

"You are a hero! You are even cooler than Twilight Sparkle!"

Index's eye twinged at the mention of her name. She thought that she had made peace with her alleged popularity after Pinkie Pie had gone back to bed, but it seemed all evidence – what little there was to be had – was to the contrary.

"You…like the archmage?"

"Who would not? I mean, I heard that she has a temper, but she is the most amazing unicorn I have ever heard of!"

"What happened to me?"

"Oh, um…except for you. And my big sister. Hmm… No, just you. Rarity is too prissy and she is scared of getting her hooves dirty. Well, maybe not scared, but she loathes anything that is not prim and proper."

_Ugh. And here I thought I left Canterlot behind. Anyway, I know exactly where to take this conversation._

"I saw what you were doing with your roller skates back there. That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks! I have been working really hard on my magic. I came up with that a few weeks ago so that I could keep up with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom."

Index paled. _Oh, no. I'm trying to tutor a Crusader… _She took a hesitant backward glance at what must be Sweetie Belle and saw exactly what she expected. Sweetie Belle had a huge smile that looked exactly like her own when she talked about magic as a filly.

_Uuuuuuugh. I can't say no to that._

"So, Sweetie Belle, how many spells have you learned?"

"I am only six short of one hundred!"

_She's about…ten…eleven years old. I think Shining's at around a thousand now. Mom and Dad are only a bit past a hundred. Pretty good. I think I see a magic cutie mark in her future. No wonder she's a crusader though, those are so hard to get._

"That's rather ahead of the curve. You can color me impressed. Is your goal to be like the" – Index was having trouble saying the next word – "archmage?"

"Yeah. I know it is a rather far off goal, but my sister always says to dream big."

"I see. Big dreams _are_ good. If that's the case then I have something to tell you. Way back when I was in magic kindergarten, I was in the archmage's class."

"Whoa! What was she like?"

"Asocial. Completely uninterested in everypony else. Her passion was magic even then. But that's not the point. How many spells do you think she knew at that age?"

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment and made all kinds of odd humming sounds.

"I am guessing that the answer is really low, or really high, and I am going to bet on high. A thousand?"

"You went in the right direction, but if you asked her directly, she would have told you 'I don't know.'"

"Well, I suppose you could lose track when you know that many."

"You misunderstand. Sure, she probably couldn't count how many spells she had cast in her life, but that's not the reason she would have given. Tell me, have you ever invented your own spell?"

"No. Inventing spells is _really_ hard."

"The archmage was already doing it then. On the fly even."

"What!"

"Oh, yes. She spent most of class ignoring whatever activity was going on and just experimented. No small number of her creations blew up in her face. But that's not the reason she would give either. I admit what I'm about to tell you will seem kind of cheesy, but you have to understand just how much she valued, and still values, the mode of thought.

"She would have told you, 'Every spell has a thousand uses and every use has a million spells. I don't know a number high enough to estimate how many spells I know because by the way you count spells, every one I know is worth more than all of the ones you know put together.'

"Do you understand the meaning?"

"I-I think so… Basically, she is saying that spells have way more than one use."

"And one spell used wisely…" Index prompted.

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment and then finished, "Is better than a thousand used poorly. So what she is really valuing is…creativity?"

"Exactly!"

Sweetie Belle gasped and shouted, "Watch out for that–"

Index turned away from her protege to check in front of her and face planted into an apple tree.

"–tree… Are you alright?"

"Yeah." A quick rub of her nose was enough to fix things. The stampede had been moving fast in Ponyville but it had slowed down outside it so Index had not hit the tree too hard. They were halfway to…wherever they were going, so she figured it would be fine to set down and let Sweetie Belle walk the rest of the way.

Sweetie Belle hopped off of her back and ran in front. Standing on her hind legs, she inspected the small bruise just above Index's nose.

"I told you it was–"

Sweetie Belle's horn glowed and Index felt the bruise heal.

"Huh. Good work. I take it the crusaders get a lot of bruises and scrapes."

"Yeah. When we first met we got in a lot of trouble… Well, we still get in a lot of trouble, but back then we got in a lot of trouble for injuring ourselves. I learned some healing magic so our guardians would stop complaining."

_Guardians? _An eyebrow raised, but Index did not comment.

"I suppose that's also good work. But more importantly, if you really want to be like the– the archmage, then I have some homework for you." Unsurprisingly to Index, who was beginning to think she had found the next her if properly nurtured, Sweetie Belle did not groan or otherwise express displeasure.

"Take a spell you know. Any one will do, but try to avoid medical ones. They can have nasty side effects if you mess up. Take that spell and think of thirty non-obvious ways you can use it. Then repeat with a different spell. And then again, and again, and again for the rest of your life, or until it becomes a habit.

"Don't get frustrated if it's slow going at first, or even if it never becomes easy. It's far more important to make creativity your first instinct than for you to have a natural gift for it or for it to be easy. Got it?"

"Yes!"

"Excellent. Later, if you want a harder challenge, stop using spells for their conventional purpose. But for now, will you be fine on your own? It seems that the stampede is long gone."

"I will be fine. We are not too far from Apple Bloom's home."

"Alright. It's a small town. I'll probably be seeing you again soon."

* * *

_*Wham!*_

Index had been about to open the library door when it slammed into her face and knocked her onto the ground.

_Oh, come on! I leave some of my defensive enchantments off so I don't attract attention from overreactions to little injuries and the world decides I need to be hit in the face twice in one day! If it happens again, I'm asking Pinkie Pie for a hockey mask! I'm sure she has one._

The Golden Oak Library was small by most standards, and minuscule in comparison to the Canterlot Archives, but it had certainly proven that it was as _solid_ as oak, something other libraries could not match. On its doorstep stood a cloaked blue pony. A faint rustling underneath the cloak marked the wearer as a pegasus.

'I'm sor– Oh, you're fine. Whatever. Still sorry. I was never here."

By the sound of the voice, the cloaked figure was female and about Index's real age. Maybe a couple years younger. She pulled down her hood even further over her face and ran off into the somewhat concealing, alleyish spaces between Ponyville buildings.

_Ugh… I hate ponies. And she could at least hide the hair. There's probably only one pony in town with a rainbow colored mane._

Getting up, Index magically scrapped the dirt off of herself. Her saddlebags that she had taken from her bag of holding on the walk back into town lay nearby, fortunately saved from any damage. Replacing them on her back, she walked inside.

_Wow, this place is even smaller than I thought. Why on Equus would a book about The Ele–_

The librarian, Rhyme, stood behind the counter handling a few papers that likely pertained to the pegasus that bumped into Index. She was a unicorn. There was nothing unusual about that. The blue color of her mane and tail did not stick out either. Her coat was a deep purple, but that was not that odd. Her cutie mark was a simple paper and quill. Again, not strange. There was one detail in particular that stuck out.

_That's my haircut! Or…my hair…not cut, since I don't really style it… But still! Curse you, Pinkie Pie! I'm going to be doomed to notice this kind of stuff forever now!_

"Can I help you?"

Index broke off her stare and headed to the desk. On her way she pulled a manila folder out of her bags and floated it over to Rhyme.

"I have a request from the Canterlot Archives. They want to acquire a book from this library and since I was going to be in town they gave me the notice to deliver and asked me to pick up the book."

"_The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide_? Do we even have a book like that? One sec."

Rhyme dropped the folder and started searching the shelves.

_Wow. I didn't think that would work. I just cobbled together something official looking._

"Let's see… A… B… C… D… E… El– e– ments–"

…_That's not how you sort a library…_

"Aha! Here we are. _Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide_. Hmm… Oh! I think Pinkie checked this out a few years ago." The librarian opened the cover to glance at the library log. "But nopony before her I see."

Rhyme walked back to behind the desk and pulled out a few forms and started filling them out. A minute later, she looked up and sent them across to Index.

"If you'd just sign these at the bottom. Alright then. You take the yellow copy and I keep the other two. Do you want me to mail this myself or or you going to handle that?"

Stashing the book in her saddlebag, Index replied, "I can take care of it. Thanks."

"No problem. Need anything else?"

Index shook her head and left the library. As soon as she was outside and a few hooves away, she pulled out the book and began reading. It only took a few seconds before she stopped reading and started flipping through the pages.

Page after page was filled with trivial details she already knew or illustrations. There was nothing hoofwritten in, no spells on the book, and as far as she could tell there were no secret chemical stains to uncover and turn into readable text. The only mystery book she had read had let her down again.

_Well that was a wash._

* * *

"Now I know ya was just tryin' ta help, but wha' ya did was tha plum opposite 'a helpin'."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh agreed with Applejack.

"I know sis. We were tryin', but I dunno wha' went wrong."

"'N where's Sweetie Belle? Rarity'll be awful sore with us if'n we lost 'er or she's hurt."

"I'm coming!"

The filly in question was approaching from far off on the path to the corral, skating gently along.

Applejack sighed. "Well tha's somethin', at least."

When she finally arrived, Sweetie Bell said, "Hey, everypony. How did the rest of the corralling go?"

"It went just fine, sugarcube, but it shouldn' 'a been necessary ta begin with."

Apple Bloom stood up and looked over her friend, inspecting her for injury.

"Ya'll are all righ', righ'? I thought ya might be injured, but tha whole town could 'a been in trouble if'n I didn' stay with tha herd."

"Yes, I am fine, Apple Bloom. I did almost die" – everypony gasped – "but I was saved by the nicest, smartest pony I have ever met."

"Who was it?" Scootaloo asked, joining the circle.

"Who indeed," Applejack said. "Tha Apple family'll need ta thank whoever it was somethin' fierce."

"Eeyup."

"It was the overseer for the festival, Index. I saw her go by yesterday with Pinkie, but I never imagined she would be so cool."

"Even if she saved you, there's no way she's cooler than Rainbow Dash."

"Oh, Scootaloo. We shall forever have different definitions of cool. What a cruel divide this makes in our friendship. Perhaps if only we never argue it again, we may pretend that the very fates do not conspire against us."

"Whoa, turn down the Rarity, Sweetie."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom could not help but giggle. Even Applejack had a private chuckle. Big Macintosh stood as stoically as ever.

Curious about this mysterious mare, Apple Bloom asked, "So, I get tha' she saved ya 'n all, but wha' exactly was it tha' makes 'er so cool?"

"Well, first of all, she knows Archmage Twilight."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo groaned together.

_Not ag'in. She ne'er stops talkin' 'bout tha archmage._

"Or at least she did when they were fillies."

"I wouldn't call that knowing somepony."

"Well, it is a good thing my name is not Scootaloo then. Anyways, she gave me a magic lesson right after she saved me. It really helped me calm down, but it was the lesson itself that was important. It was brilliant! Practically straight from Twilight Sparkle herself!"

"I see…" Applejack said nervously. "'N what spell exactly did she teach ya?"

"Well, it was not just one spell" – Sweetie Belle paused for dramatic effect – "but ninety-four thousand spells."

Out of the corner of her eye, Apple Bloom could see her big sister and big brother pale for a moment before realizing something was wrong.

"I don' get it," Apple Bloom said. "How did she teach ya tha' many spells in a few minutes?"

"Well, it was more a lesson about creativity than particular spells. I do not think I could do her lecture justice, but I am one giant step closer to the archmage now."

"If'n ya say so, sugarcube," said Applejack. "Now back to tha whole stampede thing."

* * *

If a unicorn cared two-bits to study a field outside of magic during their education, they would discover the wonderful world of physics. If a unicorn went a bit further, they would find that illusion spells operate on the premise of altering the light passing through an illusion to a different wavelength. If a unicorn actually cared about what they were studying, they would find that there are many wavelengths that normally can not be seen.

Of course, this meant that less than one percent of unicorns knew this. Far more earth ponies and pegasii knew, but for the purpose that unicorns put this fact to, it did not matter. They were blind to the flow of magic and would not be able to see through the illusion.

Index stood far outside Sweetie Drops's house, pretending to search her bags for something. Her horn did not glow, at least not with any visible light. She had other ways to hide her spell casting, but the simplest illusion charm taught to first years in every magic school drew no attention and barely required any power or concentration to maintain.

It would not fool a close inspection by Lyra Heartstrings, but neither would it bring her attention to Index while she subtly scanned the area for traps and wards which were by far the more obtrusive spells that Lyra might notice.

With more effort than she would like to admit to having made, Index discovered a few detection wards against something she could not quite identify, but nothing that would spring on her.

_I think she's watching for…something aquatic… Aside from Canterlot and Cloudsdale, Ponyville is the most landlocked place in Equestria. What could she possibly be on the lookout for?_

_And why are these wards so subtle? She's at least half as good as I am. What is this pony doing in Ponyville?_

Index packed up her bags and made for the door.

_Whatever. Easiest way to find out is to ask directly._

After a few knocks, Sweetie Drops greeted Index and invited her inside. Still wary, Index had reactivated all of her defenses and was watching for ambushes. Naturally, she kept her caution secret from Sweetie Drops.

"I'm afraid Minuette couldn't join us tonight, so it'll just be dinner unless you want to hang out and watch some movies with me or play another game."

Taking a seat, Index asked, "And Lyra?"

"She completely forgot to tell me that she was heading out to play a concert tonight. She didn't say when she'd be back."

_She ran away._

"She went right out the door with her lyre in a huge rush. I hope she wasn't late. Celestia knows she could use the work."

"I see. And how long ago was that?"

"Oh, maybe a half hour or so. I hope you're hungry; I cooked for three. It'll be ready in just a few minutes."

"Alright. Could you show me where your bathroom is? I'd like to wash up first."

"Certainly." Sweetie Drops extended her hoof towards a small hallway that lead out of the kitchen and further into the house. "Just follow that hall until it turns right. Then it's the first door on the left."

Index thanked Sweetie Drops and headed off, abandoning magical stealth and performing a wide area scan for recent teleports.

_Aha! Found you. Let's see here. The destination…is naturally concealed. Can't say I wasn't expecting that. How much power did she put into it? …Maybe…enough for a town wide jump. She'll no doubt have obfuscation on tracking as well. There's probably nothing left here to track her with reliably anyway._

_So, assuming I can find her without breaking out the heavy duty stuff, where could she be? Ran away… Short jump…_

Index began building up power for a teleportation block and held it ready for her arrival.

_Train station it is then._

Index dispelled her polymorph and reapplied it with a different shape. She was now a red maned, blue coated stallion that usually went by the name Charming Thunder. It would not do for somepony to see him teleporting.

A short range teleport brought Thunder above the train station and a second one carried him onto the platform. A gasp came from behind him and he whirled to come face to face with Vinyl Scratch. A quick check revealed that it was the real one.

"Sorry about surprising you, miss. I'm trying to find somepony in a hurry. Have you happened to see Lyra Heartstrings around here?"

She did not say anything, but a quick flick of her eyes was enough. Turning, Thunder caught the tail end of a teleport by the mare in question as she ran away with her remarkably easy to see lyre.

"Thank you."

Thunder took off in a series of teleport blinks of far greater length than Lyra's had been. It only took a few minutes to track down and catch up to her.

A series of flower pots fell from the sky, the nonmagical attack catching Thunder completely unaware. They deflected harmlessly off his shields but as he whirled to view his attacker, a large stick broke on his shields from behind.

Casting blindly, he fired off the stored teleport block. Turning around, he saw an aquamarine pony blink out of his sight again.

Expecting another surprise attack, Thunder bucked behind him and shot off a barrage of stunning spells to support the spell piercing kick.

The reward for his efforts was a splash in an odd viscous liquid.

He immediately teleported out of whatever he hit which had started to crush his leg.

With the teleport, he turned himself around to get a good look. A strange clear-blue blob with watery tendrils stood there and inside it in the very center floated Lyra, horn glowing and moving her legs frantically, presumably exerting some kind of control over the conjuration.

It lashed out with at least a thousand very sharp looking appendages which Thunder easily dodged with another teleport. Looking back where Lyra had been, he noticed she was gone and reflexively teleported again.

Lyra had apparently been expecting that.

A watery spike pierced his shields and drew blood.

Thunder instantly fired off a short range brute force counter at the offending water and it fell back to the ground, lifeless.

_Alright. You want a real fight, you're going to get one._

Lyra was out of sight again, but that was okay. She was still nearby, and the flow of her magic was becoming easier to follow.

Thunder sidestepped another attack and ducked under a lunge from the main body of Lyra's spell. She disappeared again and Thunder a split second after, reappearing directly behind Lyra.

If there had been time, this would have been the perfect moment to taunt. Thunder had a favorite combat trick, one personally developed and unique to him.

The main delay in spellcasting was gathering the power necessary for a spell; the construction of the spellforms themselves was exceedingly easy.

Thunder fired off thousands of his trademark skeleton spells in a sphere, several of which hit Lyra who teleported away in response.

This teleport was obviously panicked and was incredibly easy to follow. Thunder once more appeared directly behind Lyra who was engaged with dispelling the spell frameworks she had been hit with, but there were hundreds and a brute force counter would take all of her defenses with them.

Smiling, Thunder began to flood a random target with magic and the spell took hold. The magic around Lyra revealed she had just failed to teleport.

Lyra's eyes widened and a wave of dispelling magic poured out from her, stripping away most of Thunder's and Lyra's spells.

With perfect timing, Thunder landed a fainting spell on Lyra, ignoring the crash of hundreds of items formerly in his bag of holding falling to the ground. A quick contest of magical strength later and his opponent was on the ground.

As the adrenaline wore off, Thunder winced as he put more weight on his injured leg. A quick healing spell later and he was once again in top shape.

Next, he teleported them and his dropped stuff to an anonymous location kilometers removed from Ponyville. First he replaced everything in his bag of holding. Then, taking a magic suppressor from his bag of holding back out, he affixed it over Lyra's horn. He was about to wake her up when he thought better of it and withdrew a second suppressor and added it next to the first one. Better safe than sorry was the way to go.

_On third though, let's go ahead and make it three. She's pretty good._

Thunder himself could easily overload four. Five was always a pain to deal with, and six was too much. Celestia had no trouble breaking any number placed on her.

Lyra's body twitched as she was awakened.

"Ow, my head," Lyra said, sitting up. "What happened?" Looking around, she completely failed to recognize the scenery. "Where in the deep depths am I? Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"That's what you get for trying to use magic with three suppressors on your horn."

Lyra jumped to her hooves and spun on Thunder.

"You! I remember no–ow! Ow, ow, ow!"

"Did you not get it the first time? Three. Suppressors. You won't be casting anything while they're on. And they won't come off without the right spellkey. I was going to be nice about this, but then you ran away and even had the guts to attack me. You're pretty good too. I haven't been involuntarily injured in a fight in years. So, until I'm satisfied, you're going to be wearing those night and day."

"What! You can't just take advantage of a mare like that! There are rules about this kind of stuff!"

Thunder facehoofed. "Until I'm satisfied that you're not up to trouble."

"Oh." Lyra was blushing from cheek to cheek. "So you're not going to kill me or lock me up to rot in the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot?"

"Of course not. Polymorph isn't inherently illegal, although assault certainly is. Now you have two choices. You can come back to Ponyville with me, speak with Vinyl Scratch to keep her from making things complicated, and then go home so we can have a talk. Or I can take your form, speak with Vinyl Scratch for you, and leave you chained up in the middle of nowhere for later."

"I'll– I'll take the first one."

"Good. I'll take you back to the station then and we can track down our DJ."

* * *

Lyra entered her home, delicately balancing her lyre on her back. She deposited it just past the vestibule and stretched her worn out shoulders.

"That was cruel and unusual," Lyra muttered. "Making me carry my lyre back like an earth pony. We're not built for that kind of stuff. I ought to report you."

_At least he…she? At least it had the decency to not dispel my polymorph. I still can't believe I managed to leave it intact. It's going to need work in a few hours though…_

"Lyra?" Bon-Bon's voice called out from the dinning room and was getting nearer. "Did you forget something?"

Bon-Bon entered the living room wearing her ridiculous chef's hat.

"Yeah, the date."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised. You can be such a scatterbrain sometimes."

"Heh, heh," Lyra laughed nervously. "That's totally what happened."

"Well, come on in to the table. Index and I just started dinner and there's plenty for you too. By the way, what's with the rings on your horn? Did you get married to three ponies while you were out?"

"No, they're magic suppressors that Index put there after hunting me down and knocking me out."

"If you don't want to tell me, you could just say so."

Bon-Bon turned and left with Lyra trotting to catch up. At the dinning table sat the fierce and powerful Index who was enjoying Bon-Bon's special super spicy curry with a smile.

"Sweetie Drops, this is fantastic. It almost tastes like you've got dragon roasted vegetables in here. The Canterlot chefs could learn a thing or two from you."

As she was preparing Lyra's meal, Bon-Bon thanked Index for the compliment. "Although, I'll have to take your word for it on the dragon part. Sweets are my specialty, but my family has a wide range of recipes and businesses. This one comes from my great uncle who lives in Vanhoover. They call him 'The Southern King' in honor of his spicy dishes."

"I'll have to pay his shop a visit the next time I'm there." Turning her head from Bon-Bon to Lyra, Index said, "You must be Lyra. I'm glad to meet you."

The mare extended her hoof in greeting. Lyra stared at it for a few seconds before deciding that if she did not play along, Bon-Bon would unintentionally make her.

"Sweetie Drops told me you missed the party last night because you remembered something you had to do on the way over."

"Yeah…something. Pinkie's parties are always a blast. I wish I didn't have to miss it."

Bon-Bon placed a plate overloaded with curry on the table and laid out another set of silverware. Lyra idled a bit, considering if Index was just waiting to kill her of 'natural causes', before sitting down with her usual posture on her rump with the chair supporting her back.

Noticing Index's curious stare, Bon-Bon said, "Don't mind Lyra. I tell her all the time not to sit like that but she insists it's more comfortable."

"No, it's not that. At least not directly. I once knew a pony that sat exactly like that. I was ecstatic when he went home because I'd never have to see him again."

"What… What did he do that made you hate him so much?" Lyra asked. _And how can I not do that thing within fifty kilometers of you?_

"I'd rather not talk about it. I'll just say that he was overly fond of swimming and leave it at that."

Lyra got the feeling that her lip was going to be bloody by the end of the night. She was already making a solid headway on the task. At least she still had a secret to fret over.

Maybe.

Index and Bon-Bon went back to eating and Lyra reached out for her silverware with her magic.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Lyra! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Bon-Bon," Lyra replied, glaring at Index who was mouthing the words 'Magic Suppressor' and obviously trying not to laugh. "I bumped my head earlier today and it was just hurting a bit."

Her spoon lay undisturbed before her and Lyra gazed at it forlornly. Bon-Bon's curry was so good. It would be pathetic if she did not get any because she could not use her silverware.

A careful glance at Bon-Bon's hooves and Lyra gave up thinking about trying to copy her movements. That was unnatural earth pony sorcery that she had no business with.

When Bon-Bon was not looking, she locked eyes with Index and made the saddest face she could. Index rolled her eyes, but a purple glow enveloped the spoon that quickly turned light blue in color matching Lyra's own magic's glow.

Ignoring her mortified look, the spoon went for the curry and suspended itself in front of Lyra. After a few moments fighting with her dignity, her stomach growled. Putting her shame out of mind, she took the offered food.

The curry probably did not taste as good as her pride did to Index, but it was good all the same.

* * *

"I've got it!"

Spitfire leaped from her desk and nearly knocked over Soarin's in her excitement.

"Got what, captain?"

"The excuse! The excuse for us to be on the borders."

"Well, what is it?"

"The first annual Wonderbolts's Race Across Equestria! A huge, multi-day race that visits everywhere interesting on the outer edge of the country and then some. Open to the public for anypony that can fly. It can also serve as an alternate means of application to the Wonderbolts since we'll get to see lots of fliers giving their best.

"Naturally, we'll have to send the team out _everywhere_ to make sure weather conditions are stabilized. We can host it the week before the solstice as a sort of pre-festival kick off…thing. With it being the thousandth anniversary, nopony will suspect a thing."

Spitfire turned excitedly to Soarin who was obviously disinterested.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd love a good race."

"Yeah, I live for racing. Not watching others race. Just more regular work for us as you've put it. Still, it seems like a decent enough idea. You'd better inform the commander."

"If you feel that strongly about it, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have one Wonderbolt setting the pace."

"Really? You mean it?"

"Yeah. It'll probably be even better publicity that way too. I can see it now, 'Race with the Wonderbolt vice-captain.' It's perfect. I'll be back soon."

* * *

After dinner, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Index had spent the rest of the night watching movies and chatting. To be fair, it had been Bon-Bon talking and Index occasionally answering a question or commenting on one of Bon-Bon's stories or a particularly interesting scene. Lyra had been silent the whole time.

Until Index had made a request for the third movie. Lyra had groaned at the mere mention of the title, but Bon-Bon had been completely on board with it. Of course, she had fled halfway through the film, leaving Index and Lyra alone.

_No, not fled. Went to bed._

Even after her roommate had left, Index had said nothing to her and had continued feeding her magic into the projector and the phonograph required to keep the movie going. The film was now wrapping up and entering its final musical number.

"Now we can walk. Now we can run. Now we can stay all day in the sun."

_My life is over…_

"Just you and me, and I can be" – a dramatic pause – "part of your world."

As the credits started to roll, Index cut her magic off from the film devices and removed the film tape to rewind it.

"Well, that was interesting," commented Index. "It's been on my to watch list for some time. Good heartsongs but the author clearly has never met a seapony. Still, one of the better films I've seen, I suppose. Silver Bell did an especially good job with the anatomy. I wouldn't have expected such a faithful reproduction."

A click came as Index replaced the reel of tape back in its protective tin.

"So, I'm expecting your disguise to wear off in a few minutes. Do you want me to get you a fishbowl, or would you rather just flop around?"

Lyra rotated on her dock away from her tormentor and let her head fall onto the floor.

"Fine! I'm a seapony! I don't care anymore!"

"Did you know I have privacy wards up, or do you really not care anymore?"

"Ugh… No, I didn't _know_, but I was fairly confident."

"Then how about you explain what the greatest horror of the oceans is doing on land in Ponyville."

"Second greatest horror. You're forgetting why seaponies are all psychopaths to begin with."

A minute passed before Lyra finally became curious enough to check what Index was doing so quietly. She sat back up and saw that Index was just sitting, seemingly deep in thought and staring blankly towards the fireplace and the clock above it.

Breaking her rumination, Index said, "I suppose I am. But for you to be aware of that, and not to be flattered by being called the greatest horror… That only makes me more interested in why you're here."

"I just wanted to–"

Lyra's polymorph choose that moment to fail and she reverted back to her real form. Her legs vanished and were replaced by a pair of fins. Her tail turned from loose hairs into a solid mass and curled around itself at the end. Her coat was swapped out for scales of the same aquamarine color. Lastly, her cutie mark was replaced by one featuring several bubbles.

After a sigh, Lyra continued, "I just wanted to get away from the craziness. For uninteresting personal reasons. Also, I'm a lot less stable mentally like this, so if you could avoid riling me up right now, or better yet, turn me back, that would be appreciated. I'd rather not start screaming in pain from trying to use magic."

"I suppose I could oblige you that far."

A brief glow and spell later and Lyra had her unicorn look back. After checking herself over, she was satisfied that there were no untoward additions added to her. At least, none that she could find without magic.

"Thanks, I guess. I don't really like myself as a seapony. But what would be really great is if you'd remove these suppressors."

"Not happening. I'll need to do some investigating and see how you behave first. After that, we'll see."

"What if I Pinkie Promised to behave?"

"No."

"But nopony can break a Pinkie Promise."

With a turn of her head, Index asked for clarification which Lyra was happy to give. By the end, she was banging her head on the ground. With each bang came another word.

"How. Does. She. Do. It?" Stopping with her face in the ground, Index added, "Sure, you can watch for certain words, as incredibly difficult as that is, but to parse them for context? And actions too? You can't just know when somepony breaks a promise sworn in your name."

"It's true. You can ask around town and around the Apple family and their friends across Equestria. She _always_ knows the moment a Pinkie Promise is broken and the consequences are… Well, they're worse than anything a herd of seaponies could do to you. You could test it yourself."

"No! I mean, no. I don't think I'll be doing that. I'll come back tomorrow and make my decision then. For now, you'll just have to suffer without magic."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Wow. Writing the Apple family accent is _annoying_. I've tried to clean it up as of May 20 to make it easier to read.

On a different note, I have no idea where the idea of psychopathic seaponies originated from. My best guess is the fanfic MLP Time Loops (which is very good and worth reading) by Saphroneth and several other authors which infrequently features them.


	5. Chapter Four - Distractions

_Sudden realization came. It all made sense._

* * *

Twilight was galloping. She did not know where she was galloping to, but it was all she could do. Every teleport was tracked. Illusions were useless. There was nothing to fight. There was only the voice that relentlessly followed her.

"I see all!"

That voice pierced the forest Twilight had escaped to, proclaiming its superiority. The terrifying presence of its owner crept forward like a fog.

"I know all!"

Twilight stumbled on a rotten log but recovered her stride with a well placed telekinetic push. Up ahead she could see a clearing. Maybe she could outrun her pursuer in an open field.

"**I am all.**"

That terrible voice reverberated at the Royal Canterlot Level as it made its absolute claim.

Twilight dashed into the field, incinerating the tall grass in her way as she went. She was losing ground on the hill but after that she would be able to switch to full speed.

As she leaped onto the hilltop, a similar sized dark blue figure crashed into her.

"Nightmare Mo– Luna?"

The alicorn on the ground next to her was only a hoof taller than Twilight and was just as scared. Her mane was pale white and gave the impression of the moon's surface, making small shadowed craters as it waved ethereally like Celestia's.

The voice's giggling was now audible behind the terrified pair. Both of their heads snapped backwards at the same time to see a creeping mist approaching with a small pink speck in the midst of it.

"Run?" Twilight suggested.

"Run."

* * *

There were two things that Field Marshal Lance asked for: peace and relaxation. As a pegasus stallion worn long past his prime by service, that was all he really needed. It was only in recent years that he discovered just how true that was.

Before Captain Armor had risen through the ranks and before his precocious younger sister Archmage Twilight Sparkle had joined him, he had tripled as field marshal, captain of the royal guard, and adviser to Princess Celestia.

First came Captain Armor who had stolen his position in the royal guard. Lance had been completely outraged at his loss of status and authority and had redoubled his efforts in his remaining two positions in an effort to impress and stun the world.

Then there was the upstart filly that the princess had treated with almost motherly affection. It had been all too obvious that she would usurp his executive and legislative authority in the future. Lance had considered assassinating her no small number of times but never followed through on his thoughts; if Twilight Sparkle had died, there would have been no force strong enough to stop her overprotective brother's rampage.

And just as he had predicted, more and more it had been Twilight Sparkle's opinion that the princess valued and respected, even before she had taken the title of archmage.

That had left only the position of field marshal. A coup never had been an option. Equestria always had loved and adored its princess and the archmage had gotten nearly as much grassroots support, though she had never realized it.

Even if by some bizarre means the country turned against those two, the archmage was too powerful. The princess would stand down; that was just the kind of pony she was. But not the archmage. The archmage would just laugh and send whatever army was on their doorstep packing. The Great Griffin Retreat had made it explicitly clear that even if she was not an alicorn, the archmage was not to be trifled with.

And then the strangest thing had happened. Lance had realized he was enjoying the extra time he spent with his estranged family and friends. He even had been reluctant to retain his last position but did so at the princess's insistence. Of course, none of that meant he was any less bitter.

Now there was a civil war brewing and no matter how little he wanted to take part, he kept getting dragged into meeting after meeting. Even his sleep was turning sour these days. He could understand the fuss the princesses were making. It was, after all, their crown at stake. But in his own opinion, everypony else was getting too worked up in a fight mere mortals could make little difference in.

"–And that's the situation," finished Commander Dusk. "Does anypony have any questions?"

Currently in the privy council room was the head of the EIS, Lance, Princess Celestia, the archmage substitute, Captain Armor, the archmage's pet standing in for Queen Chrysalis, and that vile little breezie queen, Windy Gust, who would fly into a pony's most private moments at the drop of a hat.

"Queen Chrysalis wants to know where Archmage Twilight is," Espionage said.

"She is currently trying to get a set of artifacts working that would be capable of defeating my sister," explained Princess Celestia. "The details of her mission are strictly between the two of us."

Queen Windy Gust asked in her tiny, high-pitched, accent-free squeak, "What is the likelihood of those artifacts working?"

"…Not good. Unfortunately, we shall not know if she has been successful until a few days before the solstice."

"I take it that EIS has already been fully deployed," commented Captain Armor.

Commander Dusk replied, "Yes. I've had a document prepared to explain the details of our plans. You can pick up a copy later at headquarters, but for now it suffices to say that we're launching a full internal and external investigation. Field Marshal Lance, can you think of any potential problem areas in the army?"

"Nope."

"Field Marshal," Captain Armor began, "are you taking this seriously?"

Lance sighed quietly to himself. "Look, nearly every pony of real rank and much of the common rabble in the army was present at The Battle of Horseshoe Bay. They know _exactly_ what they would have to fight against if they took a side. You can trust me when I say that they shall be more than eager to take a neutral stance on this entire affair. If I were you, I should be far more concerned about the dragons getting ideas concerning the treasury."

"I suppose that's a fair point," replied Commander Dusk.

"And on that topic, I am very curious" said Lance. "Substitute archmage, are you capable of defending Canterlot or Equestria, or will the army be responsible for that again?"

Queen Windy Gust's giggles pierced the room. "Somepony's bitter I see."

Lance shot the faerie a dirty look but before he could say anything, the substitute interjected, "No, I'm afraid not. The best I can do is protect myself and even that is questionable. I'm here for different reasons. Besides, I was under the impression that Twi– that Archmage Twilight was banned from fighting."

"Heh, maybe openly," Captain Armor quipped, "but I think we both know that she has ways of doing things without notice."

"Oh, for sure," added Queen Windy Gust. "You remember the day of ferns, don't you?"

"What! Twily did that? How did you find out?"

"Nopony notices me if I don't draw their attention. Comes of being four inches tall and two of those in wings. Even the mighty archmage doesn't pay me much mind half the time. If it makes things more complicated for you, your wife and daughter were there too."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Ehem." Commander Dusk called for attention as the conversation spiraled away. "Does anypony have any more actual questions or comments?"

"If the worst should happen," Captain Armor hesitantly began, "how are we going to avoid the eternal night you mentioned?"

All heads turned to Princess Celestia.

"Archmage Twilight has a plan for that which she refused to elaborate on. She did seem very sincere when she said it would work, so I do not think we need to worry overly much about that."

"But what if you both end up banished?" asked Espionage for Queen Chrysalis. "Will the sun and moon cease to cycle?"

"…I would presume so. But in the worst case, either my sister or I should remain on Equus, so there is no concern for that eventuality. Still, it would be worth trying to develop solutions for eternal night and eternal day if we have extra ponypower to spare."

"Which we do not," Commander Dusk added pointedly.

"If – and only if – all else fails, Discord is capable of cycling day and night. Do not attempt to release him unless the situation is unrecoverable. He shall not destroy the world, but we would be reduced to stone tools and straw huts within two generations _again_ should he once more take the throne.

"The only positive part of having Discord of all ponies save the world is that Luna is likely strong enough as she is now to defeat him on her own. Of course, that would be after however long her hypothetical banishment lasted."

Commander Dusk called for other questions. When none came, she dismissed the meeting and everypony went about their business. The princess and substitute archmage left first and teleported away together as soon as they cleared the wards. Commander Dusk and Espionage left, still discussing minor details with Queen Chrysalis.

That just left the three ponies that should never be left in a room alone together.

Queen Windy Gust was the first to speak. "So, what's wrong Mister Grumpy Pants? Dreaming of the princess?"

"I most certainly am not," Lance retorted. "Buzz off before I make a gentle breeze in your general direction, you evolutionary dead end."

"Heh heh, looks like someone answers to Grumpy Pants." Lance threw a crumpled up piece of paper at the annoying green breezy who effortlessly dodged it as usual. "Oh dear. Looks like I better get going before you get enough practice to actually hit me."

Queen Windy Gust flew – in a loose definition of the word – over to Captain Armor and kissed him on the cheek.

"Come by my room later when you get bored of your wife, hot stuff."

The captain facehoofed and let the annoying faerie leave peacefully. Everypony had learned by now that trying to catch her was an impossible task. At least, without crushing her.

"So, what do you want, captain?" Lance spat the title with barely concealed disgust.

Walking to directly in front of Lance, Captain Armor locked eyes and said, "I want to know what you're doing."

"Oh please. Five years ago you would have been right to be worried, but the only thing I'm scheming now is how to get an extra hour of sleep. I'm too old for this nonsense."

"I don't believe that. Not even for a second. I can see all the little things happening in the background, Field Marshal. I do not know what they all mean, but _something_ is about to happen."

"Fine, here's my secret plan. I'm arranging the troops as inefficiently as possible to minimize the amount of help they can provide so they don't get themselves killed. I really couldn't care less who sits on the throne. Happy?"

The captain kept up a cold stare for well over a minute but Lance had more than enough experience with young, hot-blooded ponies that it did not even faze him.

"I'm watching you." With that horrible cliche, the captain left with an eye roll from Lance still sitting in the council room.

_Some ponies just never take a hint. Even when you clobber them with it._

* * *

Index awoke just after Dream Pinkie Pie captured Luna and herself. Later, Index would wonder what she would have done if the real one had been about as she had been the previous night.

Fortunately, on the advice and persistent insistence of Pinkie Pie, Index had gotten a full night's rest and had slept in far past dawn. A groggy glance at the clock showed that it was less than an hour before the Cakes would break for lunch.

Rolling out of bed, Index fell on her back just short of the floor and then gently set herself down. Lying there, she performed her daily magical ablutions – skipping the luxury of a shower – to half of herself and then rolled over for the other half.

"Pinkie," she moaned, "this was a baaaaad idea. Pinkie?" She lazily lifted her head and looked around. "Oh, right. You have a job."

Index clambered to her hooves and moved to head downstairs. As she walked by Pinkie Pie's mirror, she noticed her horrible bed head and took a moment to tie it back into a braid before descending.

Walking up to the front counter, instead of into the kitchens, Index addressed her host.

"Mrs. Cake, what do you have in the way of coma inducing sugary wakeup foods?"

"Oh, dear. You look just terrible, Index. Is there anything wrong with your bed? I know Pinkie Pie likes to jump on it once and a while."

"No, the bed's just fine." _For something other than a cloud bed._ "I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Well, I know just the thing for you. Carrot! Can you start up a batch of zap apple muffins?"

Mr. Cake's voice came back from the kitchens. "Sure as sugar is our business! I'll have them ready in twenty minutes!"

"Err… What's a zap apple?"

Mrs. Cake turned back to Index and said, "I'm glad you don't know. You'll be in for a big surprise. Why don't you go ahead and take a seat. Would you like some coffee, tea, or something else?"

"I'd take some orange juice if you have it. Failing that, lemonade or water."

"Sure thing. I'll bring it out just as soon as I finish with the ponies behind you."

Nodding, Index left the line and took a window seat overlooking the town market. It would seem that everypony's daily business had started long ago. The square was overflowing with ponies going to and fro with bags draped over their backs, on their wings, or floating along nearby.

A light buzz of noise was leaking into the Sugarcube Corner from outside, but it seemed that the Cakes's had paid for either soundproofing on their walls or a quieting enchantment. An idle spell later and Index determined that it was the later.

"Here you go, Index." said Mrs. Cake, placing a glass of orange juice down. "Need anything else?"

"Do you have any sugar? I'm feeling really sluggish right now."

"I already put a few cubes in. Why don't you give it a try first."

Index took a sip of her drink and set it back down.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thanks for the thought."

"You're welcome," Mrs. Cake said as she left to return to her post.

Intermediately taking more drinks, Index returned to staring out the window as she planned her day.

_So, what do I need to do today? There's that Fluttershy mare that I completely forgot about yesterday. Pinkie Pie said she lives on the outskirts of town near the Everfree so I think I'll save her for later._

_I need to get a replacement document from Berry Nectar at some point. I think I'll do that while wandering through town and asking ponies about Pinkie Pie._

_I need to decide what to do about Lyra Heartstrings too. I can't believe that a seapony of all things is actually behaving, but I doubt she would blatantly lie. It's not that hard to corroborate or contradict her story. If the Pinkie Promise thing pans out, I'll probably let her off with that for now._

_Ugh… Sugar… What else? I need to follow up on a bunch of Pinkie Pie's ideas for bearers. How many can I do in a day? Especially starting this late. Cheerilee seemed decent enough. I should test her sometime too. Sweetie Drops as well._

_I think I'll push Sweetie Drops to the top of the list after the Pinkie Pie stuff. I need to touch up Lyra's polymorph before it starts showing if I don't take off the suppressors._

_I should check out the town in more detail while I'm investigating too. I don't really know anything about Ponyville._

"Here you go, Index."

Mr. Cake had snuck up behind her and placed a plate with three zap apple muffins on it on the table. Beneath the muffins, the napkin they rested on curled up on the sides and clung to the pastries.

"Cupcake tells me you've never heard of a zap apple before. I would have figured you would have, coming from Canterlot. It's a cash crop since it only grows near the Everfree and is incredibly annoying and slow to produce."

"As Pinkie told me, I don't get out much. How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house, so long as I get to watch you take your first bite. I love ponies's the first reactions."

"Really? Alright then."

Her first nibble was different than Index expected. It was electrifying, but that much had been obvious. What she did not anticipate was the unique and amazing taste that came after it.

Impassively, Index held the muffin a centimeter away from her mouth. After a moment's hesitation, she took a huge bite out of the remaining muffin and twitched from the shock.

"I don't know if the shock is good or bad. It's certainly awoken me though."

"I think you should talk to Big Mac out on Sweet Apple Acres. He's the only other pony that's reacted as calmly as you to our muffins. You might get along pretty well."

Index nodded as she took another large bite with another twitch and thanked Mr. Cake.

_Well, I suppose that's another thing to do. Maybe not today, but sometime._

_Oh, I wanted to meet the other two crusaders. It sounded like one of the group is a mechanical prodigy from Pinkie Pie's story. Probably Apple Bloom. The third one's probably gifted in something equally difficult to get a cutie mark for too. They are _really _old to be blank flanks._

_Now that I bring the topic to mind, Star Charmer's a blank flank too and she's nine. Oh gosh, that's the worst thought ever: Star Charmer and Spike meeting the Crusaders._

_Anyway, I can meet Apple Bloom when I talk to that Big Mac character. They're both low priority tasks._

_Let's see… Does anything else come to mind?_

Index polished off the last of her breakfast and downed what remained of her juice.

_Nope. Alright, I need a notebook and a quill._

* * *

_No._

Index had just finished questioning an off-white pegasus named Pizzelle and secretly checking her memories for signs of tampering. Just like everypony before her, there were none.

_I refuse to accept this. This is too much, even for Pinkie Pie. There has to be some simpler, unifying explanation._

Index had planned to make a few acquaintances and see the town, but instead her frantic investigations probably had made her off-putting instead.

_Pinkie Promises. Sure. I have…a general idea how that could work. It's not completely outside the bounds of reality as I know it._

Flipping through her notes at unnatural speeds, desperately searching for some inconsistency, Index was drawing a lot of attention to herself. It did not help that she was lying on a public bench on her back with her head in her hooves.

_I can't deny it, no matter how much I wish I could. She has precognition. It's like somepony just randomly threw abilities onto her and sat back with a bowl of popcorn to watch the chaos._

The notebook dropped to the ground and Index brought out the Royal Breathing Exercises to counter her approaching panic attack.

_And what does she use it for? Parties! If I had that kind of power, I'd be all over developing it into something useful!_

Completely forgetting she was on a narrow bench, Index rolled over and fell onto the ground.

_Ow…_

The fall had been pretty embarrassing, but she lay unmoving for a minute to revel in the mild but distracting pain.

_I don't even want to help her develop it. The results would be too horrifying to consider._

After Index stood up, a voice came from behind her. "Are you Index Code, the festival overseer?"

The mare who had spoken was a unicorn roughly the same age as Index with a pure white coat and a purple mane and tail that could only be described as fabulous.

Before Index could reply, the unicorn continued, "Oh, darling! You look terrible! Your eyes are all bloodshot and your mane is a mess. Just look at all those hairs poking out of your braid. It is worse than Applejack. What happened?"

"Nothing. Just a bad night's sleep. What was it that you wanted? Did something come up with the festival?"

"Oh. No. Not that. I am Rarity, Sweetie Belle's older sister. She told me how you saved her yesterday and I knew that I simply must thank you for what you did."

"I see. I'd say it was nothing, but I could really use a pick-me-up right now. What did you have in mind?"

"I was just on my way to the Ponyville Day Spa and I would love it if you would join me. You look like you would benefit from a little pampering. What do you say? My treat."

"There's a spa in Ponyville?"

"Well, of course there is, darling. Come this way." Rarity set off towards the center of town with Index following a step behind. "Where would this town be without a wonderful spa? Aloe and Lotus Blossom are the best masseurs outside of Canterlot. All those farmers would be a mess of tense muscles if their services were not available."

"Right… Is that a bowling alley? That doesn't make any sense. This _is_ a farming town, isn't it?"

"Bowling was a favorite past time of Granny Smith back in her youth and the game followed her here. She is the head of the Apple Family so all sorts of odd things sprouted up around her interests when she first came here decades ago."

"I guess tha– Okay, this town has issues. Please tell me I'm hallucinating and that that shop does not exclusively sell sofas and quills."

"…I do not have an explanation for that one. But it is not as if there is any shortage of demand." Rarity looked back at Index as they passed by yet another shop. "Not going to say anything about Mr. Breezy's fan shoppe?"

"No. I already know the explanation for that one."

The pair arrived at the day spa and were ushered inside by an awaiting Aloe. It seemed that like most spas, this one worked by appointment. Rarity performed some social magic and convinced the pink pony to admit Index as well.

It was her first visit to a spa, so Index did not know what to expect. Between the massage, the hooficure, and the mud bath, she was beginning to think this was going to become a more frequent part of her life. At least when she could get a couple contiguous hours where she could work purely from her thoughts.

"So, you are from Canterlot and you work for the government," said Rarity. She threw some more water on the sauna rocks and continued, "Does that mean you have been inside the castle? I hear it is a simply marvelous work of architecture and the art inside is some of the most exquisite in the world."

"I suppose there's some truth to that, for the architecture at least. There's something elegant about the way it hangs from the mountain in a seemingly precarious manner that really gets to me. There's no magic involved in that, just engineering bedazzlement.

"Even then, I'm more impressed with the rest of the city. I don't know what possessed Princess Celestia to build her capital on a mountain, but the builders did a good job getting it to spiral around without making the streets very steep or using a lot of stairs. Although, I remember losing my favorite ball when I was two. It just rolled away and I spent the rest of the day crying.

"Other than that, I wouldn't be a fair judge. I was never much one for arty things."

"Hmm… I can not say I quite understand you point of view. Though, if you said that to Apple Bloom then you would probably have a new best friend. I really do not know why she does not have a cutie mark in some kind of engineering yet."

"It'll happen eventually. She just needs a proper challenge to spark the process. Much like your sister with magic."

"Now that one I am not looking forward to. My house is already a wreck every other week from her practicing magic and her crusader activities. I can not imagine what shall happen when she finally gets a cutie mark."

"My condolences."

"But never mind my problems. Tell me, have you ever been to the gala?"

"Ugh! I get dragged there every year by my friend. She has to attend and always says that if she has to suffer through it then so do I."

"Oh, well that does make this awkward. I was wondering if you knew how I might get an invitation."

"Bah! You can have one. You might actually enjoy the gala for what it is."

"What? Just like that?"

"Maybe I should give an invite to everypony in Ponyville. That'd show those stupid, uptight, conniving nobles what's what. I can just see it now. Oh, what a disaster it would be."

"Um… Darling…"

"Get that Applejack pony to cater too. No more of those unsatisfying hors d'oeuvres or that awful caviar."

"You see to be rambling…"

"Need to find somepony to redesign my stuffy regalia too."

"Did you say, design?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah. I suppose so. Why?"

"Well, I just happen to be a fashion designer. I could make you the most stunning gala dress you have ever seen to replace your…your regalia? What position is it that you hold exactly?"

_Whoops. Um… What positions have regalia?_

"I'm a… a…"

_Horseapples!_

"Oh, ho." Rarity enjoyed an elegant, dignified laugh to herself. "I smell a secret. Surely you are not the princess – that is Princess Celestia – or the archmage. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is not a unicorn. I do not think you are Prince Blueblood. Last I heard, Prince Consort Shining Armor was still in Canterlot.

"I suppose you could be an officer of the guard or from EIS, but you would not need to be here so openly for whatever it is you are doing. Field Marshal Lance is far too old for this, not a unicorn, and is semi-retired. The prime minister is in Canterlot too. The ambassadors are still afield.

"Hmm… You can consider me stumped. Could I get a hint?"

"…Rarity, do you always know that much about about court intrigue?"

"But of course!" Rarity exclaimed, her foreleg shooting straight up into the air. "I just can not resist. I do not gossip myself, but I love getting my hooves on every bit of news I can."

"What about foreign affairs?"

"Well, I am sure you can imagine that information is harder to obtain, but I do know a fair amount. Just as I know a deflection when I hear one."

"Has anyone been acting strangely? Pony or otherwise?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "There is _always_ something unusual going on in the world. Why, just a few days ago the archmage found a substitute and up and left…the castle…"

"Would you like a job?"

Bursting from her seat and scrambling into a deep bow, Rarity apologized, "I am so sorry for how informal I have been and for my sis–"

Index held up a hoof and Rarity cut off immediately. She then threw more water onto the sauna rocks and lay back down into her former relaxed position.

"And Pinkie Pie wonders why I didn't know ponies like me. Anyways, I'm in disguise for a reason, Rarity. I can't have, nor want, any of that. Just lie back down and relax."

"R-Right. I can do that. Just– Just let me calm down a moment. I have never met somepony so important before. The closest I have been to this is a crowd at the Summer Sun Celebration."

_Sigh. _"Go ahead and get it all out. I suppose I'm more used to this than being adored."

"Dear Celestia! I just realized that Sweetie got a lesson from the archmage! Err… From you. She simply adores you, you know. She shall be _so_ excited."

Deciding that she was not going to get any more real peace and quiet, Index got up from the bench to her hooves.

"Look, I don't care if you tell her after three weeks have passed, but not a moment before then. Understood?"

"Y-Yes. Perfectly."

"Alright. I'm going to get going now. This was my first time at a spa and I rather enjoyed it. You have my thanks for that. My offer is still on the table if you want to take me up on it later. See ya."

* * *

"Thanks for putting together a second dossier for me, Berry Nectar. I'm sorry I dropped the last one. And let it get stampeded. And didn't pick it back up."

Berry Nectar giggled before replying. "It's no problem at all. The mayor has me file everything in triplicate and have everything ready to be copied on demand. Do you want another seven or eight of these? She probably has them in her office."

"No, that's okay. One is plenty. Has anything new happened since yesterday?"

"Just a couple things. Fluttershy says her animal friends's choir has agreed to participate in the festival. Supposedly she'll be conducting them as usual, but I'm a bit worried she may bolt or not even show up."

Index cocked her head to the side and asked why.

"She's terribly shy. Hence the name, I suppose. She has a few friends around town but otherwise likes to stay out of sight. The last time a group came through town we didn't see her until two days after they left."

_I suppose that means I need to get one of her friends to come with me if I want to meet her. Pinkie Pie should work fine for that, although I wonder how that hyperactive pony didn't give this Fluttershy a heart attack._

"Anything else interesting?"

"Only if you find weather management interesting. Can't stand the stuff myself. Dash finally got around to finalizing the weather schedule until after the festival. We'll have a bunch of extra light showers and a heavier storm before then to compensate for a week of pure sunshine."

"Yeah, I'm not terribly interested either."

Index and Berry Nectar said their goodbyes and Index found her way out of town hall. On her way past the mayor's office she noticed that several out-of-town looking ponies were waiting outside it. One of them was idly strumming a mandolin and dressed in bright, cheery colors that Pinkie Pie would be proud of.

As Index exited town hall, she saw that very party pony skipping across the square. Above the noise of the crowd, she could hear Pinkie Pie occasionally wish a pony a happy birthday in an arbitrary number of days. All of which were apparently correct judging by the positive responses.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie's tail started twitching in an odd way reminiscent of how she had vibrated the previous morning.

_A chance to observe the Pinkie Sense!_

She had been about to call out to Pinkie Pie to ask for an escort to Fluttershy's, but instead she pulled out her notebook on the pink enigma and started recording what occurred.

First, the more observant ponies began bolting away from Pinkie Pie as quickly as they could, some seeking shelter under buildings and some simply heading for the hills.

Second, the less observant ponies, after being shoved and jostled a bit, picked up on the message and joined the first group in their flight.

Third, Pinkie Pie herself ducked under a nearby bench and covered her head with a metal sheet that she had – for lack of a noticeable origin – congealed from the æther while Index was not watching.

Only moments later, the sound of something breaking occurred and Index's quill momentarily stopped. It may not have been the sound of Index's _world view_ breaking, but it certainly was confirmation that it had broken.

_So…precognition is possible._

Shuffling that thought to the back of her mind as quickly as she could, Index returned to recording her observations. Denial and frustration could come later. Looking around, she spotted a broken flowerpot a few houses down from where Pinkie Pie had been.

While Index was writing, Pinkie Pie and the rest of the crowd had returned to their normal business. Stepping back inside town hall, Index checked that there was nopony in the rather small lobby and hid herself with a low-key illusion.

Quill once more at the ready, she stepped back outside, located Pinkie Pie, and started following her several meters in the air.

* * *

On the outskirts of Ponyville was a cloud. Unlike most clouds, this one was shaped into a house and never rained. It used to be closer to the ground, but ever since Derpy had joined the Ponyville mail service as its first pegasus, Rainbow Dash had let it drift higher until it was beyond the range of most telekinesis.

Scootaloo magically pulled along a bucket of water on a partially solidified cloud to a few hundred meters away from her idol's residence. Dash cleared away the stairs Scootaloo made every time she visited to force her to practice her weather magic. Scootaloo had developed the art of cloud control far beyond the usual level at Dash's instruction to compensate for her wings.

Looking up and shielding her eyes from the sun, Scootaloo judged herself to be in a decent position and started evaporating the water into clouds. She started walking forward towards her mentor's home. With each step she took, another cloud formed underneath her hoof to support her ascent.

Once she finally reached Dash's cloud, a trail of tiny clouds dotted the sky to the ground behind her. She left the cloud carrying her bucket at the top of the stairs and knocked on the door. After a minute, the door opened to reveal Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, Squirt. You're early."

"Yeah, I know. But I've got news."

Dash stepped aside and Scootaloo entered and found her usual spot and grabbed a few sweets that Dash had already set out.

Sitting down across from Scootaloo, Dash asked, "So what's the news?"

"There's a new pony in town that thinks she's cooler than you."

Dash fluttered to her hooves and shouted, "What! Who is this pony?"

"It's that festival mare, Index Code. She came in and saved Sweetie Belle during that stampede and now Sweetie Belle thinks she's the best pony ever. I'd bet that the ponies that witnessed it think so too."

"Rescuing ponies is my job! This is totally ridiculous! What does she look like?"

"She looks about a decade older than you. Light-yellow coat. White mane. I think she usually wears it in a braid. Her cutie ma– What's wrong?"

Sheet-white underneath her coat, Dash stammered, "I-It's n-nothing…" After a few coughs, she continued, "I guess I can't be everywhere in town at once. Maybe I should think about getting a sidekick."

"Hey! What about me?"

"I'd say you're more of a protege or a little sister."

Scootaloo looked away and blushed. "W-Well, I guess that's fine too."

"Anyways, you were right to bring this to my attention, Squirt. I'll have to check out what's going on tomorrow."

"Not today?"

"Nah. We've still got your lessons to take care of. I was thinking we'd go long today and eat together too. In fact, why don't we go ahead and start if you're ready."

"Let's do this!" Scootaloo shouted, hopping up from her seat and setting down the remains of her snack.

The pair of pegasii left for Dash's cloud lawn and Dash separated a small section of cloud from the main formation. With practiced ease she ascended the cloud with both of them on it two kilometers into the air.

"You doing okay, Squirt?"

"Yeah, it's been a while, but I'm good enough with temperature control."

"Awesome. Then in that case we'll skip the basics and start doing the really cool stuff. How have you been doing with cloud condensation?"

"I'm still not fast enough for cloud hopping without a bucket of water nearby, but I'm fast enough to keep myself from crashing into the ground…usually."

"Hmm… Keep working on that on your own for now then. Cloud hopping looks really, really sweet when you get it down. Sort of like being a flying Pinkie Pie, if you know what I mean. For now, let's work on your skating. Get some clouds on your hooves and we'll get started."

Scootaloo focused her magic around her hooves, attracting some of the cloud she was standing on into a fluffy ball that attached to her. Plucking herself out of the rest of the cloud, Scootaloo took a step with each hoof into the air where she stayed fixed and smiling.

"Not bad. You're getting a lot faster. Way better than you used to be, that's for sure. Now, you've gotten walking down reasonably well, so today we're going to try proper skating. I suppose it's more like running if you want to get technical, but you'd be smart to take a few cues from Sweetie Belle."

Dash jumped into the air and clouds appeared at her hooves, all four taking a much more stylish appearance than Scootaloo's simple spheres.

"Watch closely, because if you mess up the motions, there's no telling where you're going to end up."

A few minutes passed and Scootaloo watched Dash's legs intently as they lazily moved back and forth in a sweeping motion like a cross between a trot and the way Sweetie Belle skated. While her mentor skated circles around her, Scootaloo made a few cautious movements and started moving forward slowly.

Unlike the cloud walking she had already learned, which gave the same up and down motions of regular walking on the ground, this was a smooth, flowing motion. When she made a mistake, instead of a jerky stop, she was sent flailing in a circle but was steadied by Dash.

"Pretty decent for a first timer. Your main goal right now should be to learn to keep your balance. Speed can come after that. If you mess up I'll steady you so we can get right back to things.

"In a couple of weeks you'll probably be ready to start practicing on your own but until then it'll be a lot safer if you only try with me around to catch you."

Breaking out from under Dash's wing, Scootaloo started moving forward again. With only a few minor mistakes she was able to get a constant, slow drift.

"Alright, now to turn it'll be easiest to simply lean one way or the other. There's a better way to do it, but we'll start with the simple one."

Dash demonstrated the technique again, but this time she made large dramatic movements when turning.

"Get it?"

"I think so."

Scootaloo got her drift going again and tried turning and ended up spinning about her nose along her spine towards the ground.

Once Dash halted her descent, Scootaloo said, "Whoops."

"No problem, Squirt. Just keep trying. We're going to get you from here to town by the end of the day or we're going to die trying."

* * *

_Greetings from The Weirdest Place on Equus,_

_That really says it all doesn't it. Ponyville is…it's like if you walked through a mirror and ended up in a strange alternate dimension. Did you know they have a shop here that sells sofas and quills? Yeah. I don't see the connection and neither did my tour guide._

_And that's barely even scratching the surface. There's three fillies here that I wouldn't put past being Discord's offspring with the kind of havoc reported of them. At least two of them are brilliant, and the third one I don't know much about. I accidentally started tutoring one of them after I saved her life before I realized who it was, so we'll see where that goes._

_By the way, did you know ponds can burn? I sure didn't._

_There's a few changelings here, but what I didn't expect was to find an illegal immigrant from Aquastria. It's not like we can really do anything about that since we have cities with beaches, but it was surprising nonetheless. Weirder still, she seems to be sane. I did have to knock her out first, and she put up a decent fight. I'm heading over to her house in an hour or so to take off the suppressors I put on her and to extract a binding magical promise (see attached document)._

_The library here had a book specifically about the Elements of Harmony. It turned out to be pretty useless, but it was literally called a reference guide. Go figure._

_I met a pony today that knew more about court intrigue than I do. I suppose that that's not that impressive, but I think she'd be a fantastic recruit to EIS. She also seems to be a fashion designer and offered to redesign my regalia (slip of the tongue; you know how I get about the gala). I hope you have no objections if I decide to take her up on that offer. What I have is terribly uncomfortable._

_I just remembered, have Daisy look into the state of the healthcare department. We may be slipping in the countryside. One of those fillies I mentioned earlier has crippled wings that should be fixable._

_Lastly, there's this earth pony named Pinkie Pie that violates my (former) fundamental assumptions about reality._

_I'm currently sharing a room with her._

_I would say more, but I think my field report will explain itself sufficiently. If you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions please share._

_The Bemused Twilight Sparkle_

* * *

_A Study in Pinkie_

_Field Report_

_Participating Observers_

_Twilight Sparkle_

_Subject: Pinkie Pie (Pinkamena Diane Pie)_

_Scientific Name: Pinkius Pieicus (pending)_

_Nearest Related Species: Earth Pony(?)_

_Habitat: Urban Dwellings_

_A strange creature. From casual observations so far, Pinkie Pie seems to be able to survive purely on foods typically classified as desserts. Pinkie appears to suffer no negative effects from ingesting other foods, but no confirmations could be made. Weak evidence is offered by the rest of Ponyville – Pinkie Pie's place of residence for nearly six years – from testimonials claiming that Pinkie Pie has never been sick._

_Witness testimony (see Appendix D) provides evidence for the consequences of what is known as a 'Pinkie Promise'. A Pinkie Promise is a simple ritual whereby a pony recites the line 'Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye' with an accompanying gesture of sticking a cupcake in one's eye. There is no consensus on which eye should be chosen or if it matters._

_A Pinkie Promise is essentially unbreakable. As provided testimony suggests, Pinkie Pie is somehow able to know exactly by who, when, and where a Pinkie Promise is broken. However, she does not seem to receive information concerning the why nor what the promise was._

_As for the consequences, a terrible fate befalls those foolish enough to break their promise. Further testimony reveals that it is possible to release a promise should the promised no longer desire it._

_The subject also exhibits many other strange behaviors and abilities, some of which may be attributable to earth pony magic._

_Pinkie Pie is capable of near-teleport speeds of movement. This includes a superb sense of balance. She has utilized this for a few observed purposes so far including avoiding falling objects and preparing and cleaning up miniature parties. See Appendix B for a list of observed uses by witnesses._

_There is indirect evidence for other strange abilities which are too vague to record here, however she appears to be capable of retrieving and storing some objects seemingly from nowhere in a manner similar to sub-dimensional storage. The most frequent object to make an appearance is a cannon that fires confetti._

_Evidence also suggests the social portion of Pinkie Pie's brain is highly advanced. She knows thousands of ponies on an individual level and purports to be friends with them all, showing no concern for the postulated Dunbar's number, nor any higher number._

_For future observation, Pinkie Pie keeps a toothless alligator named Gummy. No interesting phenomena have been observed with regards to her pet._

_Most troubling of all is the ability referred to as a 'Pinkie Sense'. The Pinkie Sense allows Pinkie Pie to predict certain events that have not yet occurred. This suggests we have a fundamental misconception of the universe. The following procedure was performed to confirm the effectiveness of the Pinkie Sense regarding falling objects._

_Flip a bit. If heads, drop a flower pot near Pinkie Pie. If suns, take no action. Wait one minute and repeat._

_The phenomenon known as 'Twitchy Tail' successfully occurred on twelve out of twelve heads and no 'Twitchy Tail' was observed on fourteen out of fourteen suns (Note that deliberate contradiction of the 'Twitchy Tail' event is discouraged as it might cause a paradox that could destroy the universe; must design further experiments to safely determine if this is the case). The warning time for 'Twitchy Tail' appears to be five seconds with minor variations likely attributable to pony error._

_Among the many other events the Pinkie Sense reveals is the foreknowledge of doors opening unexpectedly, bee attacks(?), and shocking events. See Appendix C for a full list of alleged and confirmed Pinkie Senses and the corresponding actions Pinkie's body undertakes to reveal them to her._

_It should be noted that the ability to predict any one event can be used to predict any other event through judicious application of the given event only in the presence of the desired event, barring uncontrollable environmental factors producing a false positive or negative._

_On a less professional note, I call dibs on all the casinos in Las Skogsruss._

_Fortunately, Pinkie Pie appears to be a benign creature mainly interested in celebrations and friendship. Her personality is suited for neither great evil nor mischief beyond foalish pranks. Every effort should be made to ensure she remains this way. For anypony getting bad ideas, it is important to stress that the Pinkie Sense would almost certainly make it impossible to capture or terminate her. Do __not_ _attempt._

_Of lesser interest is a trait that Pinkie Pie shares with Twilight Sparkle. Under emotional stress (so far only depression has been observed), Pinkie Pie exhibits a 'deflating' of her curly hair. During this event, her hair becomes perfectly straight. Partial inflations have been observed as her mood elevates, but not partial deflations._

_For the related reading concerning what is referred to as Twilight Sparkle's 'Rage Shift', see _Emotional Stress and Wild Magic_._

_Current hypotheses are the following:_

_Pinkie Pie has a deep understanding of earth pony magic on at least an instinctual level. Possible given that earth pony magic is by far the least studied of the three main Equestrian magics._

_Pinkie Pie is the offspring of Discord or otherwise related in some manner. There is weak evidence against this in the lack of (observed) alicorn offspring suggesting they, and likely Discord, do not reproduce._

_Pinkie Pie is not an earth pony and has managed to confound my detection abilities. This seems the most likely, however a very strong brute force counter spell had no noticeable effect on her, nor did she react to it._

_Pinkie Pie is the target of a grand global magic and receives information from it._

_Pinkie Pie is significantly smarter than the average pony and understands something about the universe we do not and exploits it. Weak evidence for, given the sheer number of ponies she associates with._

_Further observations will appear in a later field report._

* * *

Apple Bloom was staring mournfully at the crusader clubhouse. Building it was the first thing the crusaders ever had done together, and as much as she hated to admit it, its structural integrity was probably completely gone. They would have to tear it all the way down and start over from scratch.

Still, she would have the opportunity to add in all the bells and whistles she had not known about when it went up what felt like ages ago.

_Aw, shoot. I better be careful or I'm gonna turn inta Granny Smith. I'm way too young ta be recollectin' on ma past._

_I s'pose I should tell Scoots ta tell Dash 'n Derpy ta come by. They'll have tha whole thing down in ten seconds flat. Then we can get Big Mac ta haul tha wreckage away 'n put in a righ' proper basement so we can put in a second floor without tha whole thing collapsin' in on us._

_I still need ta get 'round ta buildin' Scoots a high turret ta start 'er glides off 'a. Though she's been pesterin' me less 'n less fer tha'. Maybe I can incorporate it inta tha main buildin' or just leave it out entirely._

_Hmm… I'll need Sweetie Belle ta learn a few more spells fer tha 'lectrical materials. She said she can keep up a continuous conjuration now so long as it's not fer too much._

_Need ta start a generator too. Probably build a steam one with Sweetie Belle providin' tha heat._

_That's gonna be awful loud though…_

_Maybe I should just skip tha 'lectrics altogether. It'd keep Applejack off ma flank. She's ne'er 'proved 'a tha' stuff._

Apple Bloom sighed. Nopony understood the beauty of electronics, least of all her own family. That may be because she had burned down the barn twice with improperly shielded wiring, but it was grating all the same. The only pony willing to help outside the crusaders was Cheerilee, who did most of the math for Apple Bloom.

"Soup's on!" came the distant bellow of Applejack announcing that supper was ready.

Hesitating briefly, Apple Bloom set out for the main building and another round of cheek pinching. Recently, twenty-two of the extended family had arrived for the reunion set for two weeks from now, all of them old and needing more time to travel and to recuperate. They also had an insatiable desire to fuss over the youngest member of the family present.

The usual series of benches was arranged outside and was loaded up with more apples and apple related goods than anywhere else in Equestria, not to mention the Apples gathered in a circle at one end of the table. From the direction of her approach, Apple Bloom could not see what it was that they were gathered around.

"Wha's goin' on here?" Apple Bloom asked Apple Cobbler, the only pony present outside the main family that would not feel compelled – or even interested – in treating her like a one-year-old. "Did Babs Seed turn up or somethin'?"

"Yer sis dragged home some fancy festival pony 'n is showin' 'er some 'a tha stuff we've prepared fer it. Think she said somethin' 'bout thankin' 'er fer somethin' or other too."

Apple Bloom went to the other side of the table to take a seat and do what everypony else was forgetting to do: eat.

_Maybe this time I can eat 'n leave without a doctor's visit._

Taking a glance down the table, Apple Bloom saw the terrible fate of who she assumed was the festival overseer, Index Code, that Sweetie Belle had told her about. Nearly every member of the extended family and Applejack was trying to feed Index their own favorite apple related recipe – which was no doubt secret – and nopony was taking no for an answer.

She tried to ignore the problem, but there was nothing else for it. Apple Bloom had suffered a similar fate just two days ago and the hurt was fresh. She could not let Index Code suffer as she had. At least not when all it would cost her was a bunch of complaints from the family.

Leaving her seat, Apple Bloom pushed her way into the crowd and reached the eye of the storm. Fortunately nopony was paying attention to her at the moment.

"Index Code," began Apple Bloom, "I need ta talk ta ya 'bout somethin' real urgent." Ignoring the protestations of the family, she continued, "Tha mayor sent a message o'er 'n gave it to me ta finish tha delivery."

Index Code agreed to leave nearly instantly, obviously suppressing her enthusiasm to do so.

Once they were far away from the table in the apple orchard and out of earshot of everypony, Index Code asked, "What did the mayor want?"

"Nothin'. Just helpin' ya out 'a there."

That made Index Code smile briefly before an urge to retch overcame her. Fortunately, she managed to spare both of them from seeing dinner a second time.

"Ugh… I've never eaten so much before. Not even close. Thank you so much for the help. I was about ready to snap back there. I have no idea how I kept myself under control that long. Anyways, you're Apple–" Index Code twitched and covered her mouth at the mention of the word apple.

"Ya can just call me Bloom fer tha moment if'n ya want."

Index Code nodded. "You can just call me Index as well. It's what I usually go by."

"Alrigh', Index. Sweetie Belle told me a lot 'bout ya. I'd like ta actually thank ya fer wha' ya did, rather'n torture ya. I hope ya won't hold wha' just happened against 'er. Sometimes I feel like I'm tha only pony with a full bale 'a hay 'round here, 'n I'm sure ya know how ridiculous tha' must sound."

"Something small like being force fed a feast doesn't really bother me. Honestly, it's happened before, although much less enthusiastically. Besides, it's not often that I get to meet a filly with real talent in magic."

"Wait, do ya mean tha' ya know Sweetie Belle's s'posed ta get a cutie mark in magic?"

"I do know how ponies get cutie marks, but that's not what I meant. It's not actually a big secret how cutie marks are obtained. We just don't tell ponies without one."

"Wha'! Why not? If'n ev'rypony knows how we can get our cutie marks, why hasn't anypony told us yet? We're _way_ too old ta be blank flanks!"

Index laughed for a few seconds and Apple Bloom only grew more obviously upset and impatient.

"Sorry. I can't say I really feel your pain. I was only a little late when I got mine at eight and I was already sure of what it would be. Not that anypony told me the secret or that I even had guessed there was one. It was just so obvious what it was supposed to be.

"As for you and the rest of the crusaders, you'll just have to wait for it to come naturally. I wouldn't want to unduly influence any of you."

"Horseapples!" Apple Bloom cursed, stomping her hoof. "You're just like ev'rypony else! No help at all!"

Smirking, Index said, "Have I not been? Anyway, you don't need to have a cutie mark in something to be good at it, nor does having a cutie mark in something mean you'll be the best in it. You should probably share that little tidbit with the rest of the crusaders, considering the wide range of activities you participate in."

Index was eying the path into the orchard they had entered on. Looking back, Apple Bloom could see that a few of her relatives were starting to congregate on the fringes, taking quick looks in their direction and trying to look nonchalant.

"It looks like I need to get going while the coast is mostly clear," Index said. "I'll see you later, Bloom."

Running off at a canter, not doing a particularly good job of pretending that she was not fleeing, Index left and hid herself behind trees as she went.

_I should get goin' too. Ev'rypony's gonna be sorer'n a hammer tha's gone at one too many nails when they find out she left on ma watch._

* * *

_Twilight,_

_You know I love you and respect you when I say this, but are you sure you do not want to just make the most of these last three weeks together?_

_So far you have saved a filly, commented on the state of the nation, captured a criminal(?), read a book, performed an interview, and written a lengthy scientific document._

_I already know you will not be coming back, so I shall leave that be. I did ask Queen Chrysalis over for a movie night. I would really like it if you would be there. We are not sure when that will be so I will let you know when we decide._

_Daisy and I have been getting on pretty well. You certainly chose a good pony to make your friend. Hopefully you shall not have to compromise your standards in Ponyville. Also, Daisy says hi._

_The same goes for Cadance, Shining Armor, Spike and Star Charmer._

_I have no objections to having your regalia modified. If this pony you spoke of is as good as she claims, I could use a new gala dress myself. Hopefully it would not need to be put in some closet for a thousand years. Although now that I think of it, Luna is a thousand years out of fashion and we are the same size._

_As for Pinkie Pie, I have nothing._

_Sorry._

_Celestia_

_P.S. I do not have foals!_

_P.P.S. If you could donate some of your winnings to the treasury, that would be helpful. Cadance has a delightful project she wanted to start up that needs initial capital to get off the ground._

_Just kidding. The treasury is plenty full._

* * *

Index had just escaped from what she was calling The Feast of a Thousand Apples when Celestia's reply to her earlier letter crackled into existence. The green flare meant Spike must have been the one that sent it.

Already cured of her horrible stomach ache by a reversion to her base form and reapplication of the polymorph – eating was more of a psychological need outside the base form than a physical one – Index opened up the letter and scowled. She had been far too optimistic that Celestia would know anything about Pinkie Pie. Still, a movie night with the pony in the movies they watched would be interesting.

The next stop after the Apple Family Diversion was Lyra Heartstrings. Index swapped the letter for her saddlebags and stuffed the Elements of Harmony inside on the assumption that Sweetie Drops would be home as well.

Sweet Apple Acres was nothing if not acres in size and Index had no wish to walk a quarter of the breadth again, so she teleported most the way back to town. It was then only a short walk to Sweetie Drops's and Lyra Heartstrings's home which was situated on the outskirts.

_Here's hoping something goes right for once. The past two days here have been pretty lousy._

After half a minute, Sweetie Drops opened the door.

"Hello, Index. You're here for Lyra, right?" Sweetie drops was obviously worried as she asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"She's locked herself in the bathroom for four hours now and said to let her know as soon as you arrived."

"Pff– I'd better– heh– see what she wants."

"She's in the upstairs one. It should be the only door that's closed."

Sweetie Drops stayed downstairs to give them some privacy. Index could only imagine what she must be thinking was going to happen.

Finding the only closed door as Sweetie Drops had described, Index applied the usual privacy wards and teleported through to the other side of the door.

"Wha? Owww!"

Lyra Heartstrings was in seapony form and floating in the bathtub. The rest of the room was a mess, testifying to how hard it must have been for her to even get to this point.

"Fix this! Now!"

"Such a temper. I wonder if I should…"

"Owww!" Cursing, the seapony demanded again, "Now!"

"Oh, alright." A short magical shine later and Lyra Heartstrings was a unicorn again. "Better?"

"…Yes. Still mad though."

"Well then, I have good news that should lift your spirits. I looked into the whole Pinkie Promise thing and it seems to hold water. All I'm going to ask from you for your promise is that you obey Equestria's laws to the best of your knowledge and that you neither take nor encourage actions that would subvert your own knowledge of Equestrian law."

"Fine. It's not like I was planning grand larceny or anything."

Lyra Heartstrings went through the motions of the Pinkie Promise. As soon as she finished, Index pulled out her Pinkie Pie notebook.

"Interesting, nothing's happened yet."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Oh, you're breaking Equestrian law. It seems that semantics _do_ matter and I see that there's still no raging Pinkie Pie here or anything else which is all the more intriguing now that you know. More specifically, you have broken, and are still breaking, the immigration laws. I checked."

Lyra Heartstrings went wide eyed and scrambled to start throwing everything in the bathroom she could find in front of the door.

"Hmm… So then, it has to be more than just true from the promiser's point of view. But then I knew it wasn't true so that may have been interfering. Well, thanks anyway for participating in this experiment."

Collapsed in confusion, relief, and persistent worry, Lyra Heartstrings asked for clarification.

"Well, it's pretty simple. You _were_ breaking the law, but I had you made a proper citizen before I came here."

After taking a deep breath and letting it out, Lyra Heartstrings deadpanned, "You are an insufferable jerk."

"I've heard better. Besides, you put a hole in my leg first. That hurt. And it's not like I actually expected Pinkie Pie to show up. Or if she did then I was sure I could talk her down by explaining the fine details.

"For now, clean up yourself and here and then come downstairs. It's going to take a little while to remove those suppressors and I'm sure Sweetie Drops is already thinking all sorts of odd things about us."

On that note, Index teleported out before anything more could be said and headed back downstairs into the living room where Sweetie Drops was pacing back and forth.

"It's okay, Sweetie Drops. Our tryst is over."

Sweetie Drops looked to Index and then away with an obvious blush.

"That's not what I was worried about at all. What was keeping Lyra in the bathroom?"

"It was something that happened this morning. She got mixed up in some poison joke and I just so happened to know how to make an antidote. It seems her symptoms got worse as the effects set in. She turned into a seapony."

"Shoot. I would have loved to see that. Is she better already?"

"Mostly. She needs a bit more attention, but she's back to being a unicorn if that's what you're asking."

Sweetie Drops kicked at the air and then asked, "Would you like anything to eat? I know Lyra hasn't eaten yet either and will definitely be hungry."

Barely controlling her gag reflex, Index answered, "No thanks. I've already eaten."

While she refused Sweetie Drops's offer, Index lifted her saddle bags off of her and onto the table where they 'accidentally' opened and an element rolled out.

With a curious gaze far removed from the one Daisy had had earlier towards Magic, Sweetie Drops asked, "What's that?"

"I don't rightly know. Pinkie Pie gave five of them to me earlier and told me to carry them around."

Index rolled out the other four but Sweetie Drops did not appear to be reacting to any of them.

_Sigh. Not much has been going right anyway. I suppose I shouldn't have expect this to be any different._

"Can I take a closer look?"

"I don't see why not. Pinkie Pie never told me what to do with them besides carry them around."

Taking the closest sphere, Sweetie Drops held it up to the light and looked inside it from every angle she could find. Meanwhile Lyra Heartstrings had come downstairs and entered the room.

"That's soooo weird," Sweetie Drops said. "There's a necklace inside and it's just floating there. There must be some string or something, maybe some magic, but I can't for the life of me think of why anypony would want to make something like this. And why is there a piece of paper on it that says 'Honesty'?"

"Hey, Bon-Bon," Lyra Heartstrings said.

Index whirled towards her. That was the _wrong_ tone of voice.

"Can I see that?"

Stunned, Index stood rooted to the ground as Sweetie Drops hoofed over the element to her roommate whose magic was still blocked. When Lyra Heartstrings's hoof touched it, the same blinding light came from it that Magic had created earlier. Once the light died down, a golden necklace lay draped over her hoof with orange colored gems in the shape of bubbles.

_No._

"No." Index said.

"No!" Index shouted.

"**No.**" Index said in the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice.

Index teleported away, taking the remaining four elements with her.


	6. Chapter Five - The Dream World

"_Why isn't it working?"_

* * *

Lyra stared at the necklace on her hoof. There was something absolutely wonderful about it, but she could not figure out what it was. Aside from its odd origin, it looked and felt like an ordinary necklace.

Presumably, Index could tell her what it was, but she had teleported away in a fit. Next to Lyra stood her roommate, Bon-Bon, looking as flabbergasted as the moment Index disappeared. It was probably Lyra's responsibility to tell her that Index did not spontaneously combust, but she was otherwise engaged.

"…Lyra, do you know what just happened?" Getting no response, Bon-Bon asked again, "What's going on, Lyra? Where's Index? Is she…alive?"

"Um… Yeah… She's– You know what" – Lyra held out the necklace towards Bon-Bon – "could you help me put this on?"

Appalled, Bon-Bon scolded, "At a time like this, you're thinking of jewelery? _Anything _could have happened to poor Index and you just want to take her necklace as your own?"

"She's fine. I'll explain later. Just…just please."

After a prolonged and intense stare, Bon-Bon ripped the necklace out of Lyra's hoof and fastened it around her neck.

It felt tingly. Tingly like the feeling unicorns and seaponies got when drawing power from solidified magic.

"So? Get to explaining."

"Right. She teleported away. I have no idea where to, but she's not in any danger."

"And how would you know that? She just disappeared without a trace. I know for a fact that Princess Celestia didn't just vanish when she teleported from the stage eight years ago at a solstice festival. There was all this light and stuff that she sort of turned into and then dispersed."

"Every pony's teleport looks different." Lyra shrugged. "It's possible to make them signatureless, but that takes no small amount of skill."

"And you know this why?"

Lyra inscrutably answered, "Unicorn reasons."

It was a terrible, unhelpful answer, but Bon-Bon did not have a complaint ready to throw at Lyra. Stomping her hoof, she stormed off into the kitchen.

"Does that mean no dinner?"

Calling back, Bon-Bon answered, "You're too sick to eat."

"Huh?" Now in the kitchen too, Lyra looked confusedly towards Bon-Bon. "I'm not sick."

"What about the poison joke?"

"What's that?"

"It's a blue flower that grows in the Everfree and sometimes outside it in Ponyville. Index said you got mixed up with it."

_Oh, that must be how she explained away my behavior. _"Right. I didn't know the name, but that's what happened."

A strange feeling surged through Lyra. Unlike the tingle the necklace produced, the feeling was more of a pricking sensation minus the pain.

"That was odd," Lyra commented.

"Well, of course it was odd. Poison joke does the weirdest things to ponies. Although, I am curious what it was like to be a seapony."

"What? Who said anything abo– Oh, it was…wet?" _Index, I am going to kill you._

With a frown on her face, Bon-Bon asked, "Can't you be more specific?"

"Not really. I only had a bathtub to swim in, and I wasn't exactly in the best of moods when it happened. But anyways, I'm really not that sick. I _really_ want something to eat. Something easy to eat, though. My magic's feeling a bit weird right now."

"Ugh… Fine, I'll make you some toast." As she set about her work, Bon-Bon asked, "Do you know what the necklace is and why Index was so mad? She said Pinkie Pie gave it to her and that she didn't know what it was, but I'm starting to think that wasn't true."

Lyra was idly hoofing her necklace while sitting and waiting for toast. _No, it's definitely not true. She'll know _exactly _what this is._

"Maybe, but it could be that she Pinkie Promised to keep them safe or something."

That weird feeling enveloped Lyra again, although less strongly than before.

"Whoa, there it goes again."

"What's going where again?"

Ignoring Bon-Bon, Lyra pondered the feeling she was getting.

_It's obviously coming from the necklace, or something else related to Index, but probably the necklace. It came right after I said something both times. What did those two things have in common?_

Suddenly gasping, Lyra looked away from the necklace and towards Bon-Bon who was staring at her with a worried expression.

"Bon-Bon! That sphere had a piece of paper on it that said 'Honesty', right?"

"Yeah, but what does that–"

"Two plus two equals three."

Another wave of pricking came as strong as the first one.

"I have a pink coat."

And another.

"Princess Celestia is my mother."

Once again.

"Lyra, wha–"

"Quick, say 'I am a donkey.'"

"I'm not a–"

"Just do it."

"Humph!" Bon-Bon turned away from Lyra in a sulk.

"Please."

"…I am a donkey."

The pricking came again and Lyra's smile crept up nearly past her cheeks.

"Bon-Bon, this necklace is telling me when ponies are lying!"

"No way."

"No, seriously. Try it for yourself."

After a brief hesitation, Bon-Bon moved to humor Lyra and reached to unclasp the necklace. As she reached for it, Lyra was overwhelmed with a sudden, strong protective feeling. She pulled out of the way and fell out of her chair, determined not to let Bon-Bon have it.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"I– I don't know. I just… I just really didn't want you to take it." Getting back onto her chair, Lyra said "Let's try again."

Lyra could see Bon-Bon roll her eyes in the reflection off of the oven door, but paid her roommate no mind. Instead she concentrated on suppressing the feeling telling her to get herself away from the pony about to take her necklace. Once it was off, Lyra felt much less anxious, but the desire to retake it was still there.

"Okay, say something," Bon-Bon requested, having put on the necklace.

"I'm an earth pony."

Expectantly, Lyra looked at Bon-Bon.

"Was something supposed to happen?"

"What? Didn't you get a pricky sensation or something?

"Nope. Maybe you're really an earth pony."

"Um, does the necklace at least feel tingly?"

"A little bit, but it is pretty cold compared to the room temperature in here; I just finished baking some cakes earlier."

"Perhaps it only works for me. It did turn into a necklace when _I_ touched it. Could you put it back on me?"

Sighing, Bon-Bon agreed and placed the necklace back around Lyra's neck.

"Alright, so how about this. Start saying some stuff that's true and slip in something that's false that I shouldn't know is false and I'll pick out which one it is."

"One sec. I'll humor you after I get your meal."

Bon-Bon went over to the oven and pulled out the bread, now toast, she had placed in there. After quickly adding some butter on top, she pilled the meal onto a plate and placed it in front of Lyra.

"Bon appetit. Now let's see… I grew up in Ponyville."

Munching on her toast, Lyra reprimanded, "That's not good enough. I can guess which one's not true easily enough like that."

"Alright. My birthday's on the thirty-second of Winter."

"…That's really mean spirited of you. But true."

"My aunt's noodle shop uses linguine."

"Also true."

"Hmm… The mayor ordered a box of hard candies last week."

"Yep."

"I don't have anypony I like."

The pricking came as strong as ever.

"Wait," Lyra said, setting down her toast, "since when do you have a special somepony?"

Bon-Bon stared blankly at Lyra. "Alright, I'm willing to buy that that necklace does something useful. You're _way_ too insensitive to that kind of stuff to have known."

"Hey, that's not an answer. Who is it?"

"Not saying."

"It's not Big Mac, is it?"

"Not saying."

"Or maybe Cheerilee? I guess I don't really know what your preferences are."

"I said I'm not saying."

"Rose?"

"Sigh… What part of not saying do you not understand?"

"Spoilsport."

"Yes I am. If you're going to keep that necklace around, and Index, or Pinkie, or whoever lets you, I'm going to have to start not answering things all the time, including when I want to, just to throw you off."

Throwing her hooves up, Bon-Bon continued in a huff, "Ugh! This is going to be such a pain. Let's just take the darn thing off of you."

"Trouble rather the dragon in his lair than part the element from its mare," quoted Index. Lyra nearly fell out of her chair again as Bon-Bon jumped, startled by Index's reappearance. "Not quite a perfect adaptation of the saying, but decent enough."

"You're back?" asked Lyra.

"Obviously. Anyway, I would suggest not taking Honesty off. Being away from your element will make you a bit irritated, and the longer you're away, the worse it gets. I just went to visit mine to help myself calm down."

"Does that mean this is mine to keep?" Lyra asked hopefully.

"Yes, it's yours. But it comes with a responsibility."

"Which is?"

Index sighed. "I release you from your Pinkie Promise."

"What? After all that? Why?"

"Because we're going to have to get over each other and…" Index looked away and sighed again. "And be friends."

Bon-Bon looked from one gaping pony to one tired pony and back. "I don't get it. Aren't you two already friends?"

"Not even close," both Lyra and Index said in harmony.

Following up on Bon-Bon's giggles, Index explained, "Why don't I just go ahead and explain the situation."

Sitting down at the table, Index shared what she knew about the return of Nightmare Moon and The Elements of Harmony. During the tale, she failed to mention both her real identity and Nightmare Moon's as well as who the previous bearers were.

"I don't like it," Lyra said. "The neck– Honesty was acting up during a bunch of that."

"Naturally. I left out a lot of details on purpose. You should be feeling a lesser tingle or something to that effect. Something that's telling you I'm not telling the full truth, but also not outright lying either. At the very least, the core information was completely true, correct?"

"…I suppose it was."

"Good. Now let me point out a critical weakness in Honesty. I could have modified my own memories to make myself believe the things I just said appropriately. And, naturally, I would have modified my memories of modifying them so that I would be able to honestly say I hadn't.

"Of course, that's wildly inconsistent with my usual values so I would place extraordinarily high probability on that not being the case, but be careful how you use it all the same because you're detecting subjective truth. I'm sure you can dream up a few scenarios where less extreme measures are needed to cause problems."

Lyra nodded, and asked "I don't really have much of a choice but to help, do I?"

"Unless you want to die a slow, cold, hungry death in eternal night, then no, you do not."

A small tingling sensation came.

"What did you just leave out there?"

"Stupid Honesty," Index grumbled. "There are a few unlikely scenarios were it wouldn't matter to you if you didn't help. Like if Nightmare Moon turns out to be entirely reasonable and a good sport about everything after a thousand years of banishment, or if the archmage or the princess comes up with a random other solution, or if the princess got the dates wrong.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to leave and pretend that this didn't happen until tomorrow when we need to figure out how to bond."

Index teleported again, and from the sound of it, she only went to the front door which opened and slammed closed.

_How lazy can a pony get?_ "So, what do you think of all this, Bon-Bon?"

"Well, if you're saying it's true, I suppose it must be. You wouldn't go this far for a prank."

"It seems you don't actually believe that, or at least there's still doubt. Hmm… I believe everything important that Index said. Yep, apparently I do."

Bon-Bon smiled a bit, "Heh, I guess that's one way to use a truth detector." After a sigh, she continued, "It's just, it's not everyday that a pony is told that the world is in danger of being destroyed. It's hard to wrap my head around it."

"Yeah, I know."

"Maybe we can just stick to a simpler topic right now. Like why you two aren't friends. And don't even think about lying your way through this one, bearer of honesty."

"Horseapples!" Lyra's eyes went up to the rings on her horn as she cursed. "I just realized she left the suppressors on."

"Suppressors? You mean you were telling the truth earlier?"

"Yes!" Lyra shouted, standing up as she did. "Do you get it know? She's a horrible pony."

"But how did it happen? She was here when– Well, I suppose teleporting explains how she got to you, but why did she even go after you to begin with?"

"You're defending her?" Lyra asked with a stomp of her hoof, completely outraged. "I can't believe you!"

"Calm down, Lyra. Ponies don't go around knocking other ponies out for no reason."

Lyra looked away.

"What is it that you're hiding?"

Bon-Bon was staring with a far more gentle look than Lyra had been dreading, but she still wished she knew memory magic to make Bon-Bon forget. And that she had the freedom to cast spells again.

After nearly a minute of hesitation, Bon-Bon was still waiting patiently, and Lyra finally gave in.

"…I'm a lot better at magic than I've let on. This isn't," Lyra gestured to herself, "what I actually look like. It's conventional wisdom that polymorphs – that is, ponies magically disguised – are bad news. I noticed she was one too and ran away when you told me she was coming over.

"She caught up to me and, well, I struck first. I was convinced she was going to lock me up and throw away the key, being a government employee. I was out of my mind with panic thinking EIS had found me.

"I don't know who she really is, but I suppose now it's obvious that she was never here for me to begin with."

Bon-Bon put one hoof on Lyra's shoulder and then pulled her close for a hug. Nuzzling Lyra's neck while she spoke, Bon-Bon gently said, "That's certainly a lot less to take in than the end of the world, and a great distraction from it too. Now's the time if you want to tell me who you really are."

"Thank you, Bon-Bon. I can tell you mean that, but I– _This_ is who I am. I am Lyra Heartstrings. I play the lyre in parks for my room and board. I like to spend time lazily playing cards with you and everypony else. I have a landlord that makes the best food in the world and fusses over me for every little thing.

"That's who I am. That's who I want to be." Lyra paused for a moment and added, "And I believed every single word I just said."

Being pushed back, Lyra felt wretched all the way down to the pit of her stomach. She had not expected total acceptance, but things had been going so well that the rejection cut deep.

_I suppose I'd be nervous living with somepony with a mysterious past too. I could be a serial murderer for all she knows._

Nervously, she looked towards Bon-Bon who was avoiding eye contact with her. The torn look she bore both lifted and crushed Lyra's spirits.

_At least she's giving it some thought._

More than two minutes of awkward silence passed, and then Bon-Bon looked up. Her expression had turned hard, her eyes held determination, and she was biting hard on her lip.

Crushed, Lyra mumbled "I'll pack my–"

Bon-Bon cut Lyra off, pushed her over, and kissed her.

* * *

With a rapid fire series of Magic powered teleports, Index appeared in the frozen north. She had just woken up from some dream or another, but lost all memory of it as a single idea consumed her thoughts.

_Forget Lyra and the elements! This could fix all my problems _and _change the world for the better!_

It had been just after sunrise when Index had left. Pinkie Pie had not been awake yet, but Index placed a note behind so she would not worry and do whatever it is that Pinkie Pies do to cities when they are worried.

With one final teleport, Index arrived in her arctic laboratory housed deep underground. Two years ago she had searched the tundra for any available underground caverns to repurpose and the one she was currently in had been the most spacious.

She had spent a few weeks sculpting the natural formation into a state-of-the-art facility that she used for her more dangerous magical experiments. Between the thaumic lighting, the unbelievably smooth floors and walls, the doors, and the lab equipment, a pony would be hard pressed to believe the place had ever featured dripping water, stalactites, and a lack of oxygen.

Index stepped into her test chamber. It was the largest room in the complex, and was placed a half kilometer away from the rest of the lab with only a narrow hallway connecting the two facilities. Well over a thousand protective enchantments had been laid in the chamber, drawing enormous amounts of power from the background magic of Equus to sustain themselves.

Tapping into her own spellwork, Index easily altered the emergency teleport destination to Pinkie Pie's room instead of her tower in Canterlot Castle.

Now fully prepared, Index summoned Magic and cautiously began focusing raw magic into a single point in front of her. In ten minutes, she had a pebble sized sphere of solidified magic lying on the floor. It glistened with every color of the rainbow and then some more that required magical senses to see.

Usually, the effort of producing solid magic would have left her winded, but with Magic helping the task had barely put a dent in her reserves.

Speaking to the room in general – it would record her words for her – Index said, "Solidified magic successfully created. Magic does in fact multiply magical output. Precise measurements will need to be taken later, but a rough guess would be that Magic multiplies by a factor of fifteen based on the resultant size of the solidified magic and the output rate from Twilight Sparkle.

"Now beginning the first real experiment where we use the solid magic in the usual way to create another block of solid magic. If Magic aids in the process, the radius of the sphere should expand by approximately two point five."

Drawing on the power contained in the first sphere of magic, Index made a duplicate one a meter away, using up the entirety of the first one in the process.

_Hmm… That's what I thought would happen._

"Experiment unsuccessful. A presumably approximately same sized ball, reduced slightly in radius for the magic used in transfer, was created. It would appear that Magic does not allow for the multiplication of external power sources. Rather it presumably functions only for a specific magical source which is currently Twilight Sparkle. This was the expected result.

"Next, we will attempt to funnel the external magic into the magical source so as to take advantage of Magic. The experiment will terminate immediately if anything appears to be going wrong as there are no documented cases of unicorns absorbing magic. This is not unexpected as there has never been a reason to do so.

"Correction, no unicorn besides Star Swirl whose original work we have redeveloped and repurposed for use here."

Very carefully, Index began constructing a spell that would fuse the solidified magic into her own magic, occasionally referencing several papers from her bag of holding that she had written.

This was by far the most complex spellform that she knew. Even global enchantments, which took days to create because of their gargantuan size, were mere toys in comparison when boiled down to their fundamental structure.

Intuitively, it would seem that combining magic is very easy. After all, two disjoint chunks of solidified magic can be pushed together into one by any pony off of the street.

However, getting two sources to merge without damaging one of them – Index herself in this case – was a different task entirely. A task that required no small amount of care and finesse.

After a half hour of continuous work, Index was ready and very nervous.

_Alright, Twilight. This is a good test run for later. Star Swirl exploded because he took in too much magic without compensating for the density limit – however alicorns do that. You're going to be completely fine._

Index triggered the spell. For a moment, everything appeared to be going well, but then she started getting a queasy feeling in the part of her that unicorns called their magic.

Hastily, she hopped out of the spell. Having lost its target, it ceased to function immediately.

"Experiment halted. Abnormal feeling detected in subject."

Thinking to clean up, Index started scrubbing away her spellwork and regretted it immediately. Her knees went weak and gave out, collapsing her onto the floor. She missed a breath and even the adrenaline rush that was coming was not helping her recover.

With one of the few breaths she managed, Index shouted "Emergency teleport!" and was taken back to Ponyville immediately.

Fortunately, the teleport only specified a destination and not an orientation so she fell an inch onto the ground rather than onto her hooves and then onto the ground.

Spotting a stunned Pinkie Pie standing in the room, Index gasped, "Pinkie. Hospital."

* * *

Twilight was lost in a crowd of huge ponies in Canterlot Square. The clock tower overlooking the plaza said it was a minute after six, but the moon was in the sky. It was still summer, so no matter whether it was morning or night, the sun should have been out.

Confused, Twilight flapped her wings and flew over the crowd in hopes of determining something about what was going on. Finding nothing interesting, she turned her flight towards the castle and headed for the front gate. For some reason the magical signatures that would allow her to fly inside the castle were slipping her mind.

Two giant earth ponies were guarding the gates and refused to let her in. Heedless of them, Twilight glued them to the walls. Attempting to open the gates with telekinesis, Twilight accidentally put too much strength into her magic and ripped them off of their hinges.

_Whoops. I suppose I should fix that later when I know what's going on._

As Twilight walked through the castle, every single guard she passed told her that she had been kicked out of the castle to find her own country to rule. Even more confused now, Twilight pressed on towards the throne room, disposing of the guards that got in her way the same way as the first two.

_Why is everypony so much bigger than me?_

Taking a shortcut through the less guarded gardens, Twilight found Spike and Star Charmer, both of which had somehow grown to her size, playing some foals's game.

"Hey, Spike. Do you know why the moon's in the sky?"

"What is that, some kind of philosophical question? I mean, where else would you put the moon?"

"That's not– Why is it out right now?"

"Why wouldn't it be? And who are you anyway?"

Saddened by the lack of recognition, Twilight said, "Spike, it's me. Twilight. Your mom."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were polymorphed."

"I'm not–"

Twilight looked down at herself and saw that her coat was the same color as usual. Flipping her head down quickly, her mane tossed over her eyes. It felt a lot softer and smoother than usual and the color had changed to match the dark blue of the night sky. Then it hit her that she was filly sized and had wings.

"Oh, that's neat. I don't experiment with fake pegasus magic very often. Now that I think about it, I flew a lot better than my last time. No face plants or anything. I'll see you later, you two. I'm going to go give these things a spin."

Completely forgetting the moon mystery, Twilight left the castle with a mob of guards seeing her out. As soon as she left, she leapt into the air and her wings lifted her up into the skies above Canterlot. Although to be fair, Canterlot was already in the sky to begin with.

After some time flying around, immersing herself in the unfamiliar feelings of chilly bursts of air, turbulence, and the addicting sensation of airflow beneath her wings, Twilight found herself circling back down to the square where she had first appeared. It was not like she had anything better to do or anywhere else she had to go.

Finding a cozy bench to lie down on, Twilight let her mind drift. Some hazy time later, the clock tower called out another hour. Six times it cried out and fell silent again.

_Wait, six?_

Twilight looked up at the clock tower again and it showed that it was a minute after six. Looking around at the ponies in the crowd, it became obvious that none of them had any faces or cutie marks. They were just blotches of pony shaped color. Thinking back, Twilight could not remember what any of the guards looked like either.

"Oh, I get it. I'm dreaming." Twilight paused a moment as that sunk in. "I'm dreaming! Ha! I did it! Hello, lucid dream. Now I just need to remember why that was important."

Eyes closed, Twilight sat up and rubbed her head with both of her forehooves, moving them in small circles.

"Think, Twilight, think. I wanted to do _something_ with a lucid dream…"

Twilight got up from the bench and after pacing for a bit, she exclaimed, "Eureka! The dream world!"

Sitting back down, she put her jaw in a hoof and started mumbling, "So, step one was to get calm. Step two was to…deny the dream? That sounds right. Step three was…no, this is step two and step two was step three. The real step two was to take control of the dream."

Leaping to her hooves, Twilight found a nice cozy spot underneath a tree.

"This is so exciting!" Shaking her head, she said, "No, Twilight. There is no excitement. There is only calm."

Try as she might, no position, no chant, no anything, could calm her down enough to make more than minor changes to the dream surrounding her. Disappointed, she collapsed onto her back and stared at the star-filled sky.

The real sky was pretty enough, but this dream sky was gorgeous. She could see nebulae, and brilliant stars that shone brighter than Polaris itself. There were glorious hues of reds and oranges, with splashes of light blue and green on occasion.

Realizing that she had settled down, Twilight carefully kept her eagerness from building up again and started playing with the sky, moving stars around to make new constellations and swirling space dust around to make whirlpools of sparkling light.

With a deep sense of satisfaction in her art, Twilight dismissed everything and closed her eyes.

_It's only a dream. An illusion. I want to go to the real dream world._

Twilight felt a sudden jarring motion as her body was relocated to a bent position at the base of a grassy hill. In front of her was a forest line of moderately sized trees and ferns with huge leaves. Trying to stare deeper into the foliage was giving Twilight a headache, so she stopped.

_I guess that's the edge of my dream world, as Luna's book put it. Wait, I remember everything!_

Twilight smiled as all the memories that had been so hard to access in the dream came into crystal clear clarity. Then she frowned.

_Horseapples! I left myself in Pinkie Pie's care. I guess I'm not dead, but that's not saying much._

From behind her, Twilight could hear a thud of something falling onto the ground and an indistinct curse. Turning around revealed only more hill and the tree line circling away.

_Why is my dream world a grassy hill? How does this represent me in _any _way?_

Just in case, Twilight looked up to check for anything interesting suspended above but only saw a cloudless sky. It was a stunning gradient from orange to purple, but it was only the twilight.

Twilight facehoofed. _If my dream world is based around a pun, I'm going to have some pointed words for…for somepony._

Moving her thoughts away from that, Twilight ascended the hill to investigate the noise she had heard. Once she reached the top, she could see the smaller version of Luna with the white mane curiously looking around as she walked.

"Ugh, what are you doing here?" Luna apparently heard her as she looked curiously in Twilight's direction. "I better not be subconsciously in love with you or something. I've never even _met_ you."

Gracefully flying to the top of the hill, Luna – who was apparently twice Twilight's size – circled around her once.

"I was so sure you were a unicorn," Luna mused, "but I guess this explains why my sister took you on as her personal student and made you the archmage. I'm guessing that you woke up twenty-two years ago, but what did it? I doubt my sister did, Discord's still petrified, and I've been absent for a while."

"What are you talking about? Can you explain why you're here?"

Luna gasped. "Did my sister not even tell you? You poor thing. Do you even know what you are? No, you'd have to know. There's no way you could miss something so obvious."

Taking a step back, Twilight instinctively spread her wings in preparation to flee.

_Oh. I still look like an alicorn filly. I get it now. But she's still making no sense. I don't have a clue what–_

"Are you the real Luna?"

"Of course I am," Luna said as she sat down. "Unless there's other dream walking alicorns now?"

"But you're banished."

"For a grueling nine-hundred-ninety-nine years, three seasons, seven weeks, and seven days now."

Twilight fumbled for words as she asked for an explanation.

"I've been managing to slip out in my sleep, although it's been _a lot_ harder than it's supposed to be to get a pony into their dream world for the first time. I'm sorry for the sour influences I've been having on your dreams lately. I suppose you also have my thanks for getting yourself here, even if it did cause me to face plant on the ground."

Opening her mouth and closing it again, Twilight stood stock-still trying to process everything. Without a hint of emotion, Twilight managed to say, "You're welcome. You're book helped. Can you tell me something I can verify later to make sure you're real?"

Nodding approvingly, Luna replied, "I used to call my sister Tia. But anyway, tell me what you are. I'm dying to know."

"I'm–"

Thinking quickly, Twilight realized she had an irreplaceable opportunity to probe Luna for secrets that Celestia might be hiding from her.

A gentle breeze blew a lock of her mane in front of her eyes, and seeing that it had changed colors to the same orange and purple gradient as the sky above, Twilight answered, "I'm the alicorn of the sky."

Luna's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. Things must have _really_ changed while I've been locked up. Nopony ever tells me the really important stuff."

It hit Twilight then that one of her earlier deductions was way off the mark.

_So, she's had company. I guess that removes that factor in deciding if she's sane or not._

And then the other horseshoe dropped.

_Oh, buck! She's had a thousand years to quietly organize ponies to do _anything_._

Twilight brought out the Royal Breathing Exercises to calm herself. Even in her panic, she noted that the need was becoming alarmingly frequent lately.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked inquisitively.

"Calming myself!" Twilight shouted, anything but calm.

"Why?" In a moment, a look of realization overtook Luna. "Oh, I guess you–"

* * *

There are good ways to wake up and bad ways to wake up. Waking up in pain and moaning was _not_ one of the good ways. Being in a hospital bed was certainly not a mitigating factor.

_Owww, my horn._

Index tried to get out of bed, but she barely had any strength and failed to lift so much as a leg. Her magic still felt weird, and she did not want to risk relapsing into her previous condition just to recover her energy.

_The last thing I remember is Luna getting cut off. Judging by how sweaty I feel, I must be having fever dreams. That probably doesn't help dream stability._

Turning her head, she spotted a neat pile of random knickknacks from her bag of holding situated in a corner of the room.

_Who refreshed my polymorph? Lyra Heartstrings?_

Leaning back into the pillow, Index felt a weird resistance and pressure on her head. Turning her head to the side opposite her stuff, she spotted a mirror in the adjoining bathroom and could just make out her head with Magic still on it.

_I guess it can't be involuntarily removed._

Passing on shaking Magic off of her head, Index tried calling out for a nurse. Her voice was weak, but either it was enough or fortune was on her side because one appeared. Her coat was pure white and her pink mane was tied back into a bun.

"Hello, Index. I'm Nurse Redheart. How are you feeling?"

"Terrible."

"My sympathies. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to do anything to help ease your pain. If you could tell us what happened, we might be able to do something."

Index opened her mouth to tell her that there was nothing she could do, but then closed it. Telling her that would only invite follow up questions.

"I don't know."

"Does it have anything to do with that tiara? We couldn't get it off of your head. You didn't get mixed up with any dangerous magical artifacts, did you?"

With a slow shake of her head, Index answered, "The tiara is unrelated. It is classified information, so you and anypony that knows about it can't say anything about it."

Nurse Redheart was obviously displeased being told that, but held her tongue.

"…You've had some visitors that will need to be told that too. Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle admitted separately" – Index thanked Nurse Redheart for the prudent action – "Rarity, Derpy Hooves, Cheerilee, Mayor Mare, and somepony by the name of Sun Wisp."

The last name made Index smile weakly; it was one of Celestia's favorite fake identities. That meant she could probably wait until Celestia showed up again, but it would be better all around if she could get a message out.

"Do you have anypony on staff that can cast a flame sending spell?"

"What does it do?"

"That's a no. In that case, could you send for Lyr– On second thought, send for Sweetie Belle."

With obvious qualms in her voice, Nurse Redheart agreed and left the room.

_Alright, so what did we learn from Luna?_

_She said alicorns are 'awakened' – whatever that means – and suggested it takes somepony already at alicorn level to do the awakening._

_Then there was the fact that I had to be the alicorn of something. I'll need to dwell on that more later when I'm in a more coherent state of mind._

_And apparently there would have to be a big change for me to be the alicorn of the sky, but it wasn't totally unthinkable since Luna didn't call me on it. What's different about the sky from the sun and the moon?_

_It doesn't produce light._

_It's not concrete. I mean, I guess I don't _know _that the sun and moon are physical things, but astronomical observations suggest it._

_It's…close to Equus…_

_This would be a lot easier if I could just go to the moon or the sun and take a look at what's special about them._

_Ugh. What did I already know?_

_Alicorns have an outrageous magical density and can output insane amounts of power which means they need to generate new magic at a much faster rate than normal._

_Immortal in both the ageless and indestructible sense, the latter being implied more than known. I suppose that is also true of the former, but whatever._

_I've never seen or heard of Celestia being sick in a way that couldn't just be her faking it._

_They sleep. And only Luna can dream walk. Or at least only she knows how to._

_They have the three canonical Equestrian magics, and probably the other ones too._

_Celestia eats, although I don't know if she must or chooses to. Technically, I could get by without eating if I stayed polymorphed all the time._

_Oh, maybe Celestia stores extra magic in the sun and Luna in the moon._

_But that raises a lot of other questions._

_Why would Luna be so interested in where I put my magic? Why would they choose a specific spot to put it when anywhere would do? Why would the sky be an odd pick?_

_And how would they externalize their magic in a useful way? I just demonstrated that reabsorbing it is not pleasant. I suppose it could all just be regular old solidified magic, but it wouldn't really be theirs at that point, just a storage space. There'd be no reason to say they're the alicorn of where they put solidified magic._

_No, I don't like this idea at all. Too many awkward questions and explanations pop up._

_It could be just a title, but the way Luna phrased it made it sound more important than that. I suppose they could _be _the sun and moon, but that doesn't square at all with my concept of life. Presumably, the moon is made of rock and the sun of low weight gases. Neither gives rise to the kind of complexity required for life._

_The closest thing is animated golems, but those are just spells controlling rocks in a needlessly pony-like fashion. Celestia is provably far more complex than even the most detailed golem behaviors._

_Could they be things created with lost knowledge from before Discord's time? No, we've passed by nearly every spell we've found from Star Swirl and he came just before the proposed start of Discord's reign. There's zero evidence for anything anywhere near as difficult as modeling pony behavior existing._

_Yeah, this is a lame idea too._

"Index," Nurse Redheart said, knocking on the door, "Sweetie Belle has arrived."

_Huh. I forgot how small Ponyville is._ "Send her–"

Sweetie Belle rushed in past the nurse, completely ignoring noise ordinances, "Index! You are awake! I was so worried!"

Wanting to cover her ears, Index found she still did not have the strength and got by with a cringe.

"Not so loud please."

"Oh, sorry. But what happened? You have been asleep for two days."

Spotting Nurse Redheart eying her suspiciously, Index asked her for privacy.

Once the door was closed, Index answered, "I can't really explain what happened right now. It's pretty complicated. Anyways, could I ask you to do two things for me?"

The filly's face brightened immediately on being asked to help. With an eager bounce, she readily agreed.

"Thanks. First, when you leave, go through that stack of stuff over there, take all of the loose parchment and notebooks, and hide them somewhere where they won't be lost. Don't worry about damaging them, they're enchanted. Try not to touch anything else in there; some of it can be dangerous."

_I suppose after two days anypony that wanted to riffle through my papers already could have, but no need to just go along with it._

"Oh, I guess I have three requests. After you leave, get a list of my visitors from the nurse and tell them not to talk about the tiara on my head."

"Why not? It looks nice with your mane when you let it go unbraided. Rarity was ecstatic when she saw it and suddenly ran off with all sorts of ideas for clothes."

"It's classified information. But I guess I don't mind if your sister uses it for clothing ideas.

"Anyways, my last request will require a bit of work on your part. I'm not really feeling up to spell casting, and I need a specific spell cast right now."

Sweetie Belle squeed.

"Well, I guess you're willing to learn. This will probably be the hardest spell you've encountered so far, but under my expert tutelage, you should be able to cast it – if not understand it – within the hour."

Index began her lecture on the flame sending spell. That part went smoothly enough, since it did not have too complicated of a spellform.

However, once the first hour rolled by, it really sank in just how difficult it was to teach purely orally without her magic to correct Sweetie Belle and nudge her in the right direction. Index even had to go out of her way to teach Sweetie Belle an illusion spell to visualize the incomplete spell just to be able to see what her student was doing.

All told, it took Sweetie Belle a little over three hours to send a blank piece of paper across the room to Index.

Frustrated, Index shouted, "Finally!" and descended into a coughing fit.

Sweetie Belle walked across the room and stopped next to the bed, bashfully playing with her hoof on the floor.

"I am sorry I took so long, Index."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not frustrated with you, just the state I'm in. It's ridiculously inconvenient to be without my magic. You did fantastic for having to deal with a crippled teacher."

Not sure if Sweetie Belle's smile was genuine or not, Index continued, "Anyways, I need you to write my letter for me."

Her student quickly grabbed the paper she had sent and a nearby quill and stood at attention.

"Spykoran, please deliver this message to the boss for me. I'm awake and need to see you," Index intoned.

After Sweetie Belle finished writing, Index hesitantly gave her the destination key for Spike. Index did not want Sweetie Belle in contact with Canterlot's troublemakers, but Spike was the only one she trusted enough to deliver the letter now that she knew Luna was dream walking.

That is, the only one besides Celestia herself, but that would be an even worse idea. It was bad enough that Sweetie Belle had the much prized archmage's address. Even Index's parents did not know it, routing through Spike instead.

While Index was debating the horrible implications of her fevered decision, Sweetie Belle crumbled the letter to ashes and sent it off. When the spell finished, Sweetie Belle lurched downward but caught herself before she fell to the ground.

Standing back up, she said, "Wow, that was exhausting. How far did I send that?"

"It should just be going to Canterlot. I suppose that is pretty far for somepony your age," lied Index. That was far for ponies several years older than Sweetie Belle. "Anyway, you have my thanks. I'll return the favor sometime."

"You do not have to, Index. You already taught me a bunch and you _saved my life_. I am in your debt far more than you are in mine."

Sighing, Index said, "I guess. Now, if you would, gather up those papers and skedaddle. My guest will be coming soon and we'll want some privacy."

Puzzled, Sweetie asked, "How?"

Celestia appeared in the room in a convergence of light. She had taken her Sun Wisp disguise so she had a red and orange coat with a yellow mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a single wisp of her usual sun cutie mark.

"Like that, I suppose."

"What's like what?"

"You've teleported in front of a guest."

Raising an eyebrow, Sun Wisp turned around and found Sweetie Belle.

"Oh. Whoops. I only checked if this space was free."

After the initial shock had passed, Sweetie Belle had stared wide eyed at Sun Wisp.

"That. Was. So. Cool! Index, can you do that? Can you teach me that?"

"Usually, yes, but don't spread that around. I'll think about the latter. For now, just go and come back later for what I asked you to do if you can find the time."

Sweetie Belle nodded and slipped out the door. Laughing, Sun Wisp turned back to Index.

"That is a cute little student you picked up."

Index was going to deny it, but upon thinking back, that was more or less how she had interacted with Sweetie Belle.

"…Maybe."

Far from the answer Sun Wisp expected, her face was a perfect picture of shock.

"…I guess there is some hope of you succeeding after all. Did you make any other friends?"

"Wards first, please."

With a roll of her eyes, Sun Wisp put up all of the usual privacy spells while complaining that nopony would be listening here.

"Too weak to do this yourself?"

"Yes, actually. It's _very_ irritating. It took me forever to teach Sweetie Belle the flame sending spell like this. It would have been faster to send somepony on the train to get you."

"Before I forget," Sun Wisp started, "can we get Magic back now? We have fallen behind schedule because we could not get it off of your head."

"When you leave. I'd rather keep it there for the moment."

Nodding, Sun Wisp then asked, "What did you even do to yourself to get like this? I performed a quick check, and it looked like there was magic in you that was not quite yours. I did nothing because I had _no idea_ how to fix that."

"What about now?"

Sun Wisp's horn glowed as she made another medical scan.

"You seem to be clean."

Index let out a breath, one she had not realized she had been holding it. _Good. That means I _can _absorb magic, it's just an awful process right now. Although…I could have shed the extra magic. I need to investigate later._

_Still, for now I should play it safe with my magic until I recover fully._

"So, putting that aside–"

"Are you kidding me? Twilight, you are in a _hospital_. Do you not realize how difficult it is to hospitalize you? Tell me what happened."

"It wasn't that big of a deal, Tia. Just a minor magical mishap."

Index waited for Sun Wisp to respond to the name Luna had used, but all she was getting was a blank expression.

_Well, I guess that means that was the real Luna. And diversion successful._

"…Could I ask you to not call me that?"

"I don't know," Index said whimsically.

Somewhere in the back of her head she knew that joking now would be a bad idea, but logically, she had concluded, sick ponies are allowed to make all the bad decisions they want.

"It is an awfully cute nickname. Although, I never would have thought of it if Luna hadn't mentioned it to me."

"**What?**" Sun Wisp barked far too loudly for being in front of a sick pony. "**Did my sister do this to you? How did she escape early?**"

"Volume," Index whispered.

Still seething, Sun Wisp ground her teeth and apologized.

"Luna's still banished. She's been dream walking. Probably for her entire banishment judging by a short look at her mental state. I'd probably be in a bigger panic if I had the energy for it."

Momentarily stunned, Sun Wisp whispered, "I…I need you to say that again."

"Do you mean the part about Luna being mentally stable?"

"Yes. That." Sun Wisp made a dreadful sound of sniffing mucus up her nose.

"I can't make any promises, I only met her for a little bit before my dream collapsed. And I don't know if it will make a difference when she's in her physical body. Nor can I say it wasn't all an act. She could be obfuscating sanity for all I know. I also don't know what her opinion towards you is. All I can say is that she was behaving nicely."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me, even if you are not sure if she is doing well."

Worried that she had sounded too positive, Index said, "Don't get your hopes too high. After all, she hasn't visited you. That's a bad sign since it didn't seem like she was feeling guilty. But again, moving along – I don't know how long I'll be awake – I need to ask just in case. Am I secretly an alicorn?"

"What? No. That is–" Sun Wisp clearly had no idea what to do with the sudden shift in topic. "There is no way you would not know if you were. Why do you even ask?"

"In the dream I was having before entering my _really_ lame dream world, I was flying around as an alicorn – which was really fun – and when I met Luna she just rolled with it and assumed I was an alicorn. I just thought I'd ask."

"Odd. I think I know why, but you should really talk to Luna about it, if she is willing to answer. She knows far more than I do about dreams and the dream realm. I think I still have a copy of the book she wrote on it, if you want it."

"I'm actually already mostly done with it."

Sun Wisp facehoofed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I picked it up the night I found out you had a sister. Though, I can't really think of anything relevant in it off of the top of my head right now.

"Now, let's see… There was something else… Oh, I found a bearer for Honesty."

"That is good news. How are things between you two?"

"Abysmal."

"Oh…" Index almost thought she could feel the resignation in Sun Wisp's voice.

"It's that seapony I told you about. I went ahead and made her a proper citizen before she awakened Honesty. Hopefully that will help. She was at least willing– I suppose 'willing' might not be the right word, but she's going to try making nice with me. The nurse said she showed up for a visit with her roommate while I was out cold, so there's that."

"Well, it is all I can ask of you that you play nice with the other foals." Sun Wisp enjoyed a short chuckle at Index's diseased indignity.

"One other thing," Index said as Sun Wisp regained her calm. "Does the seapony know who I am now, or were you the one keeping my polymorph going?"

"Yeah, that was me. Can I assume you want assistance with it until you get out of the hospital?"

Index shook her head. "Has anything interesting happened on your end?"

"A few things. There is, of course, the movie night with Chrysalis. I made some free time eight days from today for that. I thought we could get everypony together for it."

"That sounds great. Be sure to make kettle corn."

"Naturally. Then as I said, we fell behind in trapping the old castle since you have been holding onto Magic. If I had known Honesty was about, I would have taken that."

"You could have just taken one of the unawakened ones over there," said Index, barely gesturing towards her pile of stuff with an awkward hoof movement.

"Your sub-dimensional storage had not failed yet when I was last here, and you have never told me where yours sends its contents when somepony forcibly shuts it down."

With a nervous laugh, Index responded, "Actually, I just let it all fall out. Excepting the elements recently – which I can just summon back to me if they get stolen – I rarely put anything important in there. It's a lot less of a hassle that way.

"I guess there was a few papers in there that are valuable, such as the element's documentation you gave me, but nothing I couldn't replace or don't have duplicates of."

"I will keep that in mind in the future. Lastly, Cadance came up with a great idea a few days ago. Really, the fact that I missed it sort of casts shame on me as a ruler. Summed up, the idea is basically a school for gifted pegasaii."

"Huh, now that you bring it up, it does seem really weird that we don't already have one of those."

"I know exactly what you mean. As soon as Cadance mentioned it, I said as much to her."

"What about one for earth ponies? We don't really have the population for dragons, griffins, and the like, but they would need one too."

"We were actually discussing the idea when your mail came, but at the moment we do not know what to do with earth ponies. Generally, gifted earth ponies go train with a master on a mountain peak."

"Canterlot is built on a mountain."

"You know what I mean. And then your discovery of Pinkie Pie puts any curriculums we might consider in doubt. Although, at the same time it also makes the need for such a school that much more pressing. If earth ponies are not even coming close to their potential, we need to correct that."

"What about you? You have earth pony magic."

"Yes, but… Well…" Sun Wisp looked away but Index still managed to catch a glimpse of her guilt lined features. "I don't use it much… I know that it is horrible to say that I find the branch of magic useless, but other than the stamina boost…"

"It's fine. Nopony expects you to be growing things in a palace made of stone or fighting hoofticuffs in the streets."

"I guess. Anyway, unless you have come up with anything else…" – Index shook her head – "Then I will come back with Daisy in a couple minutes to retrieve Magic."

* * *

In a quiet corner of Canterlot Castle, Spike sat idly chatting with Star Charmer – both still grounded. Aunt Cadance had brought them here on a detour into town so that she could talk with Princess Celestia about a new school like the one for unicorns next to the castle.

A while ago, a weird message had arrived through Spike. He had not recognized the hoofwriting, but Princess Celestia had said it was from Twilight and left in a rush. Since then, the three remaining ponies had had to amuse themselves. Cadance had enjoyed her tea and occasionally had muttered some detail about her grand plan, while the two foals had entertained each other.

With no warning, as was always the case, Princess Celestia reappeared in an implosion of light.

"Ah, I see that you are still here," Princess Celestia said with a smile. "If I had known Twilight would hold me up so long I would have had you come back later."

Aunt Cadance dismissed the alicorn's concerns with a wave of her hoof and asked, "How is Twi doing?"

"She will throw a fit if she hears a word of this, but I would say better than I expected. In several ways."

"That's good to hear. Has she made any friends yet?"

"Perhaps one. But if you want more details about her, you shall have to ask her directly. In the meantime, let us return to the issue of finding teachers. I know that the Wonderbolts take in most talented pegasii right now. That is talent in terms of magical ability, flying ability, and teaching ability. Have you looked over their ranks for ideas?"

"Yes, actually. There's a lot of decent picks there and I recently paid a visit to their training camp. It was _way_ too militarily directed for foals, but the trainers certainly knew what they were doing. A fair number of them would do well and some of them are getting on in years and would no doubt enjoy a less physical job."

"What about outside sources? We can not pull only from the military. That would send the wrong message entirely."

"I've found a bunch of other likely picks from around Equestria. Naturally, Cloudsdale has a disproportionately high representation, but there's nothing we can do about that. But there was one mare that I really wanted to get ahold of before the Wonderbolts finally get her."

"What do you mean by finally?"

"Apparently they keep pestering her to join since she's otherwise just occupied in weather management, but she keeps rejecting their invitations. She never gives a reason why, just that 'she can't at the moment.'"

"And who is this mare?"

"It's the one that performed that rainboom all those years ago. Her name's Rainbow Dash."

"Oh, yes. I remember that. It was quite an interesting way to accentuate Spike's birth and the end of Twilight's exams."

Shaking her head, Aunt Cadance clarified, "It's not really about that at all. I got ahold of her file from the Wonderbolts and it's clear that she's incredibly talented at every other branch of pegasus magic beyond just flight. Pretty much in the same manner that Twi is with unicorn magic.

"She's actually living in Ponyville right now. Maybe Twi and her will hit it off and she'll drag the stubborn mare back to Canterlot."

Finishing a sip of tea, Princess Celestia retorted, "Or maybe she shall keep Twilight in Ponyville."

"Yeah, right," Aunt Cadance said sarcastically. "Like that would ever happen. Anyways, there must be something, or somepony, in Ponyville that's keeping her there. If we can find out what it is, we might be able to relocate the problem here."

"Twilight says there are some changelings in Ponyville. If you ask them then they should be able to give you your answer. Queen Chrysalis tells me that most of her subjects are still in the habit of learning the relationships and behaviors of the locals."

"That sounds like a go–"

With a flash of bright-green flame, a small tied up scroll appeared.

"More mail?" Aunt Cadance asked. "Is it from Twi again?"

Spike picked up the letter, pulled off the bow tie sealing it, and started reading it to himself. It was short, and once he finished he was sure that it was not from Twilight, or anypony he knew.

"No, it's not," Spike said. "It's addressed to me though, so I'm–"

"We're," Star Charmer corrected.

"–We're going to go read it somewhere else."

"Alright, don't wander too far. We still have other stuff to do today."

Spike and Star Charmer left the small meeting room and, finding the room across the hall vacant, entered it and huddled together conspiratorially.

"Who's it from?" asked Star Charmer.

Quickly unrolling the scroll to the very end, Spike answered, "Somepony named Sweetie Belle. Do you know who that is?"

"Nope. Just start reading."

Nodding, Spike returned to the top of the page and started.

"'Dear Spykoran, I was not going to send this letter at first, but I just could not resist. Anypony that knows Index must be just as cool as she is.'"

"Index?"

"It's one of the disguises mom often polymorphs into. Anyways, 'I am from the town of Ponyville which is about seventy miles to the south-west of Canterlot (I am assuming that is where you live based on something Index said). I have been studying magic for a while now, but a few days ago Index appeared and not only saved my life, but also taught me a lot about magic including this flame sending spell (which is exhausting!).'"

"Is it really? You send mail all the time?"

"It's a pretty fundamental ability for dragons. I think mom said that it's supposed to be used to send game back to our hoards. Not that I do that. I've heard that the unicorn version is more like trying to send a message in a bottle to somewhere upstream."

Ignoring Star Charmer's giggle at his simile, Spike continued reading, "'I really want to get to know her better, but she seems like she has a lot of stuff to do besides overseeing the festival. She ended up in the hospital–' What! How did that happen?"

"Keep reading," Star Charmer said while poking Spike with her wing.

"Um, '–in the hospital. She said it was too complicated to explain how' – Figures – 'but she did not have any visible wounds, so it must have been something to do with magic.' Huh, maybe she did some crazy experiment without thinking it through."

"It wouldn't be the first time. Keep going."

"'So I guess that the real reason I am sending this letter is to see if there is any way I can help her, but my original intention was that it might be fun to be pen pals. Sweetie Belle. P.S. I can only cast the flame sending spell at most once every hour or so. I also have no idea how to send letters back to me.'"

"Can you send a response?"

"So long as nopony sends me any more mail before we write it, I can send something back to her."

"Great! This sounds like it'll be tons of fun. What should we say?"

"Excuse me? This is addressed to the 'cool' Spike."

"Oh, come on!"

"I was just teasing. We need to find some parchment and a quill."

Spike and Star Charmer ransacked the room looking for the prerequisite implements for writing a letter and embarrassingly found them in the last untouched location in the room: inside a desk drawer.

Ignoring their mess, Spike grabbed a sheet of parchment and started writing.

_Dear Sweetie Belle, you don't have to worry about mom–_

"Don't write that!"

"What? Why not?"

"She knows Aunt Twilight as Index. You know, in disguise. You might blow her cover."

"Oh, right. Good catch."

Spike crumpled up the last sheet and obtained a fresh one.

_Dear Sweetie Belle, you don't have to worry about Index; she does weird stuff all the time._

"Nice use of semicolon."

"I know. It'll make us look super sophisticated."

"Well, I'm a princess and you're the archmage's colt. We're sophisticated by definition."

With an eye roll, Spike continued.

_She's only been hospitalized a couple times when she was a lot younger, but we were all expecting it to happen again. Being pen pals sounds like fun._

Spike stopped writing and twiddled his quill.

"How old do you think she is?"

Shrugging, Star Charmer said, "Her letter reads a little uptight, like something Princess Celestia would write, but there's some parts that sound more like a filly writing. We could go bug Soulful Dusk to get us more information. Or Esp. I think he was wandering around here somewhere."

"Or we could just ask her."

"Ask her?" Star Charmer said as if the very concept were foreign to her. "Where would the fun in that be? Why don't we just go ahead and wrap that up so we don't miss the chance to send it? Then we can go investigating."

"She'll have to send another one before I can send another back."

"So be it."

_Until you figure out what your mailing address is, we can only send you a single response to your mail and we have to do it before another one shows up so we'll end this letter here._

Spike lifted his quill from the parchment and turned to Star Charmer. "Seem fine?"

"Yep. Go ahead and sign it for me too."

_Spike and Star Charmer._

* * *

The folds of the dress stretched and contorted as a dozen needles and threads passed through in tiny, rapid movements. The fashonista controlling them was barely paying attention and soon found herself holding a ball of fabric held together by the occasional miss-stitch.

"Oh, horsefeathers," muttered Rarity. "That is the fourth time I have done this since this morning."

Rarity threw her latest failure onto the pile with the other three wads of fabric. Even if she fixed it and it looked identical to one without a mistake, she could not bear even the thought of somepony wearing something that had once looked so hideous. Especially something that she had made.

Summoning her fainting couch from upstairs, Rarity collapsed onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Every time inspiration had struck her, she always returned to thinking about the archmage's offer and it was ruining her progress.

_I simply must decide on what I am going to do. At this rate, all of my customers will have to show up naked to their soirees._

Instead of thinking, her eyes insisted on distracting her with examining the texture of the paint above her.

_It is so weird how interesting the dullest of the dull becomes when you are trying to avoid thinking about something else._

From upstairs came a crackling sound, almost as if something were burning.

"Sweetie Belle! You are not playing with fire again, are you?"

"No, Rarity! Just a spell that Index taught me!"

_Oh, my. Sweetie Belle will be so ecstatic when I finally tell her who Index is._

_With that in mind, if I moved to Canterlot then I could finally convince mother and father to let Sweetie Belle enroll in Princess Celestia's school. I have heard that Archmage Twilight sometimes visits there as a guest lecturer too. That would make Sweetie Belle even more excited._

_I always imagined that I would be invited to the castle for my work in haute couture, not as an intelligence agent. Oh, but I do love gossip though. And being the first to know a particular piece of juicy news. Maybe it would not be so bad._

_And then there is the archmage's regalia. I think it looks wonderful just the way it is, but I do see how it could be a bit uncomfortable. If I could convince her to let me be the one to redesign it, the possibilities could be endless. I could even work part time in fashion as my cover story. I would be so in demand that nopony would notice how many orders I was rejecting. And the rarity of my designs would just make me even more popular!_

_Heh heh. Rarity of my designs. I must remember that one for when I am in high society crowds._

The same crackling sound that Rarity had heard before came once more from upstairs.

_What did the archmage teach her that is making that sound? I shall have to ask later. Now, where was I?_

_Oh! The castle! I would probably have permission to go anywhere within it. I would have the perfect opportunity to see it all firsthoof. I might even have the chance to travel to exotic lands and see the great wonders of the world._

_Could this be the perfect opportunity?_

_No. I imagine there would be no small amount of danger. And I would be leaving Ponyville which would mean leaving all of my friends behind. Poor Fluttershy has few enough friends already without me abandoning her. I would simply hate doing that to the dear, but I know she would be the first to tell me to do what I wish._

From the stairwell came the soft sound of hoofsteps descending. Soon, Sweetie Belle appeared at their base.

"Hey, Rarity? Does the name Star Charmer mean anything to you? It sounds familiar, like a pony you may have mentioned hearing something about?"

"Sweetie Belle, Princess Star Charmer is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's filly. I suppose she is not that well known, being only nine and not involved in politics."

"O-Oh. I see. And who is Spike?"

"I would guess you are talking about Spykoran." – Sweetie Belle nodded – "He is Archmage Twilight Sparkle's adopted dragon. He would have been born when the archmage took her entrance examinations, so he should be a few years older than you, but in dragon terms he would be more around Princess Star Charmer's age.

"The archmage is not exactly known for putting herself or her family in front of the press's camera which would explain why a fanfilly like you did not know about him."

Finally sitting upright, Rarity asked, "Why do you ask? Have you somehow stumbled onto a secret I should know about?"

"N-No. I was just reading something in the newspaper that mentioned them."

Rarity tapped her hoof to her jaw. "Really? I do not remember anything about them appearing in a recent article."

"Err… Really. That is all it was."

"Oh, I do not believe that at all."

Sweetie Belle took a step back and tripped over a stair. Under Rarity's glare, Sweetie Belle made a full retreat up the stairs.

Elegantly getting to her hooves, Rarity walked upstairs following her little sister. At the top she found that the door to Sweetie Belle's room was closed and locked, not that that would buy her much time. Fumbling blindly, Rarity found the locking mechanism on the other side of the door and pulled with her magic, unlocking the door.

Inside, Sweetie Belle's room was as it normally was. There were a few stacks of books on magic scattered around, but it was otherwise well organized. Noticeably absent was the filly whose room it was.

A light breeze fluttered the curtains of the room's window which was wide open. Walking over to it and looking out, Rarity could see her sister galloping away through town with a piece of parchment suspended near her.

"Sweetie Belle! I know where you live! You can not hide a secret from me!"

* * *

Twilight awoke in the midst of her breathing exercises standing exactly where she had been when her dream had fallen apart. Luna was not nearby, but Twilight could not recall breaking into her dream world as she had last time, so the alicorn had to be somewhere.

Putting her hoof down, Twilight looked around and noticed that everything – what little there was – was exactly the same as it had been when she left. Having read Luna's book, this was unsurprising.

_Oh, do I have wonderful ideas for this place. Persistent memory that can't be touched by memory magic. This is every paranoid's dream. …In more ways than the obvious._

Turning towards the slow breeze, Twilight noticed from the edge of her peripheral vision that her mane was still ethereal and colored like the sky. A quick pull on the muscles on her back confirmed that she still had wings.

"So, I'm still an alicorn. With everything else being persistent, I suppose I should have expected that. Still, I shouldn't have kept this form to begin with."

"No, you really shouldn't have."

Surprised by the sudden appearance of Luna's voice, Twilight jumped into the air with the full force of her wings supporting her and then fluttered back down to the ground. Slowly, she turned around and found a waiting Luna, her eyes glaring at her from above.

"You lied," accused Luna, her voice dripping with distaste.

Thinking fast, Twilight quipped, "I prefer to think of it as roleplaying. I am, in fact, the alicorn of the sky at the moment."

Luna was not amused. Or at least, so it appeared. After an extended stern glare, she enjoyed a small laugh and a sigh.

"Yes, I suppose that's one way to put it."

"You're not mad?"

"Incredibly. I was taken for a ride by a filly, but that's my fault. And besides, there's no point getting mad at you. From what I hear, you couldn't care less. It would just be a waste of energy on my part."

"Huh. Well, by any chance do you want to elaborate on what you were asking me?"

"Not happening. That's alicorn only information."

_I see. So Celestia probably has been withholding information. Good to know._

"So, putting…whenever my last dream was to the side, why are you here?"

"I'm here to get to know my future archmage, what else?"

Twilight opened her mouth but she had no words to respond with yet. Grasping for absolutely anything to say, Twilight went with, "That's awfully presumptive."

With a shrug, Luna replied, "Perhaps, but I think you have a deep enough sense of responsibility that you won't leave Equestria in my hooves."

"No, I meant–"

"I know perfectly well what you meant," snapped Luna, "just as I know that the elements are broken. I could feel my connection to them abruptly sever as I was being banished. And if you think my sister can do that again without them, you have another thing coming."

After a pause for a deep breath, Luna continued, "Now that I think about it, do you know what The Elements of Harmony are? Even if you already knew about me, I know my sister likes to keep secrets _very_ close to the chest."

In the very short amount of time she had to think, Twilight decided not to play dumb. "Yes, I know about them. But it's not like we don't have other plans. And on that topic, have you considered visiting a therapist?"

Contrary to Twilight's expectations, the question did not further enrage Luna. Instead, it seemed to drain the anger from her.

"Yes," Luna serenely answered, causing Twilight's eyes to go wide. "In fact, I have visited one. It took me a long time to find one that was willing to say that my complaints weren't justified, but I found one. It's not like I didn't have the time."

"…What about eternal night?"

"Ugh," grunted Luna as she turned her eyes away from Twilight. If if would not have been contrary to everything she was expecting from the alicorn, Twilight would have sworn Luna was blushing. "Can we just pretend I never said anything about that?"

"Um," Twilight started softly and then shouted, "what?"

"Look, when I said that I was _really_ furious. And monologuing. And then I couldn't unsay it and everypony just sort of went with it. It was the same with the name Nightmare Moon. Some idiot said it and it caught on. Try as I might, I could never squash the nickname."

Luna raised an eyebrow at Twilight's state of stupefaction. "What? Were you expecting something more along the lines of '**Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last! From this moment forth, the night will last forever!**'?" asked Luna with wings spread wide, standing on her hind hooves.

Weakly, Twilight nodded.

"Oh, please," chided Luna, falling back onto all four hooves. "Even the most stubborn pony would have to admit eternal night is not a good idea after – I don't know – a week tops."

Twilight was about to snap when it hit her.

"I get it. It's far more likely that this is me dreaming about the dream world than Luna admitting that her evil plan was stupid."

"Pff." Luna was trying not to laugh.

Lying down, Twilight stared at the sky. It had done the trick to calm her last time, so she figured it would work again.

"Heh. What are you doing?"

"Go away, dream Luna. I'm trying to calm down."

This seemed to be too much for Luna who fell over laughing.

"Oh, Twilight. You are just too much."

"Ha, ha. Laugh it up. But when you return to my subconscious, then we'll see who's laughing."

Getting it all out of her system, Luna stood back up. "I'll come back in a little while to see how that works out for you."

* * *

Sweetie Belle felt guilty about what she had just done, but she had not had a choice. What was really bothering her was what she knew she would not be able to resist doing tomorrow.

Having sent up the Cutie Mark Crusader emergency signal with magic some time ago, Sweetie Belle was waiting impatiently just outside the ruined clubhouse for the others to arrive.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle."

"Hello. What kept you?"

"Tha relatives. They keep botherin' me soon as I come inta their sight. Anyway, what is it tha's got ya sendin' up tha signal?"

Sweetie Belle gestured behind her and said, "Two things. I need someplace to hide these where I can find them again. I was hoping that you would not mind it if I buried them somewhere in the orchards."

"Won't tha' ruin tha parchment?"

Shaking her head, Sweetie Belle answered, "These are Index's. When she asked me to hide them she said that they are enchanted to resist damage."

"Interestin'. Wha's written on 'em?"

"I do not know. Yet. She never asked me not to look, and I know I should not, but…"

"Bu' ya can't resist, righ'?"

"Yeah." Sweetie Belle's head hung low at the admission. "But I was going to wait until tomorrow when we have more time to read it all."

"So, is tha' tha other thing," Apple Bloom said, pointing at the extra object Sweetie Belle had taken from Index's pile, "or did ya have somethin' else?"

"Oh. No, the other thing is what is really exciting and why I called this meeting, not this old thing. While we wait for Scootaloo, do you mind if I take care of this stuff?"

"Naw, go righ' ahead. I'll wait here fer Scoots."

Thanking Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle headed off into the apple orchard to look for a spot to bury the parchment.

_It has to be somewhere I can remember, but not somewhere that will be noticed. Oh, I can put it near the zap apple tree that grows furthest into the orchard. As long as she knows the general area, I am sure that Index can find them easily enough if I forget._

Doubling back a bit, Sweetie Belle turned off onto a path that lead towards the Everfree Forest. Just short of the proper zap apple section of the apple grove grew one of the larger zap apple trees. Its branches were withered and twisted, showing the strain that growing slightly outside the influence of the Everfree was placing on it.

Granny Smith had said that it already had been here when Ponyville was founded. According to her, it was the very reason Ponyville was founded near the Everfree. Unlike the other trees, this one was far enough from the forest that an earth pony could buck it and gather up the fruits it dropped. One taste of a zap apple and the entire burgeoning population had decided that no place would be better.

Picking a random location, Sweetie Belle dug a deep pit and gently set the parchments and notebooks inside. Even if they were enchanted, they were Index's and Sweetie Belle had every intention to be gentle.

Making sure to replace the grass on top, Sweetie Belle filled in the hole and carried the extra dirt away. When she was halfway back, she unloaded her earthen burden and was greatly relieved to be rid of it.

Arriving again at the clubhouse, Sweetie Belle found that Scootaloo had arrived and had joined Apple Bloom.

"I am back, Apple Bloom. Hello, Scootaloo."

"Hey, Sweetie. Apple Bloom was telling me you've got some big mystery surprise for us. It's not that rock is it?"

"It is not a rock! It is a… a…"

"You don't even know?" Scootaloo laughed briefly. "Where did you even get it anyways?"

"I got it from Index," Sweetie Belle said defensively.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo facehoofed simultaneously.

Scootaloo continued her line of inquiry, "Did she really give it to you and not tell you what it is?"

Sweetie Belle looked away guiltily.

"No way! Ya stole it!"

While Sweetie Belle was distracted, Scootaloo wedged the spherical rock between her hooves and ripped it from Sweetie Belle's telekinetic grip.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle's tone was pure anger at first but she quickly corrected herself to a cautious one. "Wait! Index said not to touch her stuff because some of it can be dangerous."

"I'm just taking a closer look. Besides, nothing's happened yet. It's perfectly safe."

Watching nervously from nearby, Sweetie Belle hoped that Scootaloo would not set off any traps or hurt herself if it turned out to be a weapon of some kind as she rolled it around in her hooves close to her face.

"There's some gaudy necklace inside. I bet your sister would faint at the sight of anypony wearing it. Hmm… Maybe we can break it open."

As Scootaloo stood up to get extra strength in her throw straight downward, Sweetie Belle telekinetically ripped the rock out of her hooves and, knocking her off balance, sent her toppling over backwards.

"What are you thinking, Scootaloo? This is not yours to break!"

"It's not yers either," Apple Bloom rebuked. "Why did ya e'en take it ta begin with?"

"I– I do not know. There were two others just like this one but… There was just something special about this one."

"Well, I don't see it, Sweetie."

"Neither do I. Ya should return it as soon as ya ken."

"I know, I know. I just…I can not."

Apple Bloom looked skeptically at Sweetie Belle and said, "Ya'll do what ya want, I reckon. But if'n Index comes 'round askin' fer it, I'm gonna tell 'er ya have it."

With a nudge from Apple Bloom, Scootaloo said, "Same here."

"Ugh… That is fine…"

Bringing out the letter from Spike and Star Charmer that her friends had ignored so far, Sweetie Belle addressed the main subject of the meeting.

"Earlier today, Index taught me a spell for sending letters and had me send one for her. A while after I got home, I decided to send a letter myself to whoever was on the other side. I got this in response."

Sweetie Belle held up the letter for the other two to read.

Once she got to the bottom, Apple Bloom asked, "So wha' exactly is it 'bout this tha's so excitin'?"

"I did not know at first either. I knew that those two were Index's friends, but that was it. However, the names sounded familiar so I asked Rarity if she knew who they were."

After a suitably dramatic pause, Scootaloo spoke up, "Well? Don't keep us in suspense, Sweetie."

"Prepare yourselves. Star Charmer is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's filly and a princess in her own right too. Spike is Archmage Twilight's adopted dragon."

Apple Bloom's mouth was hanging open and Scootaloo's eyes were as wide open as Sweetie Belle had ever seen them.

"Whoa," was all Scootaloo managed.

"I know, right?" asked Sweetie Belle rhetorically. "But what I have not told you yet was when I sent Index's letter it told Spike to deliver it to the boss which I think means she works directly for the archmage and then right after we sent it off somepony just appeared in the room in what was probably a teleport and I think it might have been the archmage herself and I talked to her but I did not realize it at the time and–"

"Sweetie Belle, take a breath. Yer gonna keel o'er at this rate."

"Ah. Right. Air," Sweetie Belle said in between breaths. "Thanks, Apple Bloom."

"So, ya think tha' Index works fer tha archmage?"

"Yep."

"'N she's in tha hospital."

"You came too."

"Don' ya think tha' tha' means tha' she's here doin' somethin' dangerous? Maybe we should try ta stay out 'a tha way fer this one."

Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to say _something_, but Apple Bloom's reasoning made too much sense.

"Hey, Sweetie, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. She's not as cool as Dash, but Index is probably the closest anypony's ever come. I'd bet that she's a secret agent sent here to clean up some villains and each night she goes out undercover."

"How would tha' explain 'er gettin' hospitalized?"

Shrugging, Scootaloo suggested, "Maybe her cover got blown. Or maybe she just engaged the bad ponies and is currently recovering before enjoying a relaxing stay in Ponyville while she helps organize the festival."

"Righ'… Gettin' back ta tha letter, what are ya gonna do, Sweetie Belle?"

"It says it all, does it not? I have a dragon and a princess for a pen pal now. Do you fillies want to get in on this?"

"Totally!" Scootaloo shouted.

Much more mellowly, Apple Bloom said, "If'n we're not botherin' 'em then I think it would be fun."

"Alright, then we should send another letter properly introducing all of ourselves."

* * *

It had been an hour since Luna had left. Probably. It was hard to tell time in the dream world. The clock Twilight had tried to conjure into existence _definitely_ had not ticked at the rate of one tick per second. She had made herself a mental note to look up a very detailed schematic of a clockwork clock for the next time she fell asleep.

Before then, Twilight had managed to achieve the state of calm necessary to move into the dream world and had been frustrated into accepting that she had already arrived from the beginning.

After that, she had used the calm feeling to start altering her dream world.

She first had discovered that the base rules of the dream were the rules that she thought the universe operated by. That had been another fact that Luna's book had promised. A brief shudder had run through her thinking about how disturbing other ponies's dream worlds could get if the rules were chosen in the same way for everypony.

Next, Twilight had distracted herself from her problems with Luna by beginning construction. On the top of the hill she had erected a tower – perfectly centered on the hill because it was her dream and she could have things perfectly centered if she wanted – and had started filling it up from bottom to top.

The first floor she had made into a foyer. Having watched Luna leave through the edge of her dream, Twilight had performed some surreal mental shuffling and had insisted to the world that there was an edge in the first floor. She then had insisted that there was a door over that edge, both times completely ignoring whatever logical inconsistencies she might be creating in the geometry of her dream.

The second floor she had made into a magical pantry and dinning room where a pony could get anything they wanted just by opening a cupboard. She had thought about simply having the food and drink appear on the tables, but she had decided that doing so would eventually cause her problems in reality.

Besides, eating in her dream world was completely unnecessary so it would not save much time. That had been one of the first rules that Twilight had disabled, just before drinking and just after digestive functions.

The third floor she had gotten stuck on and was now trying to decide just how to make her infinite library self-generate. There were so many fractals to choose from but most of them would drive a pony insane if they tried to follow directions.

Of course, the shelves were more for decoration as she had installed a book retriever and replacer at the entrance to avoid having to search for books, but she wanted the option to manually search available.

The other thing in the library that she had created – besides a small reading area – was a box that a pony could put something into which only Twilight and that same pony could withdraw. It was so easy to protect information when you made the rules.

Unless Luna had unpleasant tricks as a dream walker. That was a distinct possibility.

Speaking of whom, Luna's hoofsteps echoed through the tower and shattered Twilight's emotional calm.

_Oh, great. She's back. And just when I had it narrowed down to the Quadric Cross, the Levy Curve, and the Dragon Curve._

_I need to fix that echo too. I find it hard to believe that echoes can even reach here when I'm breaking the rules this hard, but whatever._

The hoofsteps stopped for a few moments before they restarted again and soon Luna appeared at the top of the stairs leading into the library with two pints of something floating alongside her. Spotting Twilight and the reading area nearby, Luna gestured towards the chairs with her head.

Once they had sat down, Luna held out a pint for Twilight and asked, "Want some Apple Family Cider? There's nothing that you'll ever taste like it."

With an eyebrow raised, Twilight took the cider and stared into the froth at the top of the drink.

"I think you should know that I turned off digestion. You'll be able to taste it, but it won't get you drunk or give you a hangover."

"No worries there. It's an unfermented drink."

Staring suspiciously at the allegedly nonalcoholic pint that was still producing a small mist as bubbles formed and popped, Twilight took a sip. Then she took what could only be described as a swig.

Ignoring Luna's giggles, Twilight mused, "I wonder if they still brew this. …Is brew even the right word?"

"Does that mean that the Apple family is still around?" Luna inquired.

"Yeah. I think they're everywhere in Equestria in one state or another. The main branch lives in Ponyville right now."

With a wistful expression, Luna said, "It'll be nice to come home to something familiar. I've been working to keep in touch with the culture, but I'd be lying to say I've felt involved, being as detached as I am."

Twilight was finding it hard to not feel bad for Luna and she drank to hide her mixed expression.

_Why do you have to be so– so– reasonable! Dark lords are supposed to be inpony monsters, not…you._

Both mares drank in silence for half a pint before Luna said, "I like what you've done with this world so far, and I have to know. Are the walls made of ivory?"

Slowly, a smile grew on Twilight. "I'm glad that somepony finally appreciates my subtle jokes, even if it's only you. Celestia is always too busy to notice and my brother thinks they're inappropriate."

"I'll try to take that positively. Anyway, why are you still an alicorn filly? I would have thought you'd have fixed that by now. Or at least have made yourself bigger."

"Oh, I forgot. Celestia said I should ask you why I look like this. I didn't want to make any changes until after I did."

"And you're going to believe what I tell you?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm not the expert here, but I won't buy something outrageous like 'it means you were born to be my slave.'"

"Heh, remembering a nightmare, are you?"

Pale as a ghost, Twilight asked, "You saw that?"

"Yes. And I must say that your subconscious had some very _creative_ ideas about me. And that Pinkie Pie mare. I'm also extremely interested in what research you are doing that my burning it would be so terrible that it actually shattered your dream–"

_Oh, buck._

"–but that can wait for now. Your question has an answer which you might find troubling. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Of course."

Luna nodded in approval. "In the dream world, a pony by default takes on the appearance that she fundamentally sees herself as. There are often a few minor variations for a typical pony because we rarely see ourselves exactly as we are.

"Case in point, myself. In real life, I'm naturally twice this size with a black coat and my mane and tail are dark blue and filled with stars. This is how I looked when I was younger and it's the appearance I generally use around other ponies because it's a lot less scary.

"Then there are ponies like you that have a huge dysphoria with their appearance, abilities, et cetera. I have seen many cases of species changes, several into alicorns, and it generally leads to varying levels of self-destructive behavior. Although, I have seen ponies excel to make the changes they wish for, but they are fewer in number.

"However, you strike me as a bit different than either case. From watching you use your wings outside of proper dreams, you obviously have a little bit of practice. And in the real world you have an enormous amount of power. Then there's the fact that you're a filly again.

"If I were to bet on anything, it would be that you find yourself in the awkward position of being sufficiently different from other unicorns that you don't fit in, but at the same time you know that you can't compare to a proper alicorn in terms of strength and longevity. Hence, a tiny alicorn."

Twilight closed her eyes and took on a thoughtful expression.

_That makes an awful lot of sense. I was going to guess that I see myself becoming an alicorn equivalent when she started talking, but her perspective might be even better. My idea needs a more convoluted argument to explain the size change. I'll need to check myself for related mental problems when I get some free time._

"So, what now?" Twilight asked. "You said you want to get to know me, and I'm guessing you're going to keep coming around no matter what I say or do, so what's the plan?"

"Well, we could just talk," Luna said with a mischievous smile, "or we could do something…more interesting."

Twilight raised an eyebrow to suggest Luna continue.

"You see, I've had a lot of time to develop my own dreams, as you can no doubt imagine. A few of my friends should be asleep by now, so I could go grab them and we could do some larping."

"What? You mean like with foam swords and stuff?"

"Of course not. It's a dream world. It's all real minus the pain. We do have character sheets though, so you don't get to waltz in as a broken character. You'll be bound to the rules of that part of my dream. And I'm the GM so you'd get to fight against me being unquestionably evil like you want. Win-win, right?"

"Are you serious?"

"Completely! I've been a huge fan ever since I found somepony that knew the rules well enough to reproduce a copy of the source book of Roleplaying is Magic for me. I've been playing for hundreds of years."

Head buried in her hooves, Twilight said, "Fine." _This is _not _how it was supposed to be…_

"Great! Follow me back downstairs and I'll bridge our dreams together for you to come through. Thanks for the door by the way. It's nice. I'll get you set up with the character creator and then I'll go fetch my friends.

"One thing though. Do you want to go as an alicorn filly? Regular unicorn magic won't work once you're in the game part of my dream and you won't have dream magic once you leave yours."

"You know what? Yes. Yes I do. Just– Just lead the way so I can get to pretending you're chaotic evil. And get me a rulebook."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Roleplaying is Magic is a real thing! I haven't played using it, but it seems worth giving a shot.

Also, no, this is not turning into an RPGfic.


	7. Chapter Six-A Day in Ponyville-Part One

"_Just buy me time!"_

* * *

_I am the biggest idiot ever. Queen Idiot, most foolish of the morons and master of thoughtlessness._

These were the only words Twilight had to describe herself as she read over one of the many rulebooks that Luna had arrayed nearby on a shelf.

_Why did I ever come here? The portal back to my dream closed behind me and I have _no idea _if I can wake up while I'm not there. _Twilight quietly sighed to herself. _At least I'm not being tortured. Or something even worse._

_And I don't know what Luna can do in dream worlds. Especially her own. For all I know, she could have already wiped my memories and replaced them with more convenient ones, although I can't think of any use for making me suspicious of her._

_This could even be the real world and the other world a dream, and I'd never know the difference! I'm completely at Luna's mercy in body and mind and I didn't even realize it!_

By this point, Twilight had stopped reading and was preoccupied with hyperventilating.

_Everything I feel and think here is suspect! Especially emotions! Those simple chemical signals would be trivial to manipulate in a dream!_

"This is an existential nightmare!" Twilight howled.

Behind Twilight, Luna giggled.

Startled to her hooves, Twilight pointed accusingly with her hoof and shouted, "Do you always do that, or have I just been made to think that you do that?"

"Heh, heh. I had expected an existential crisis at some point once you were in the dream world, but this was pretty fast. Have you been going at it this entire time?"

"I don't know! You tell me!" Horrified, Twilight had a terrible thought. "Or, what if _I_ need to tell me? What if this is all just an elaborate story I'm telling myself?"

"It could be," said Luna with a shrug and a grin. "Everypony needs to face their existential dread one way or another, but I can't say I recommend hysteria. You like Smart Cookie's Razor, right? Try that."

Twilight's ear twitched and then from her right, Opposition said, "That's stupid. We can't do complexity comparisons when our memory is suspect."

"What the?" questioned Luna, staring at the second Twilight.

"That's always been a problem," answered Advocate. "It's just at the forefront of our thoughts right now. Luna's right, as annoying as that is."

Rubbing her eyes, Luna asked, "Why are there three of you?"

"But we are in a situation where the probability of it is extraordinarily high and we have no means of detecting tampering right now. We can't even know if our conversation hasn't been retroactively changed in direction."

"You're not going to answer me…"

Ignoring Luna completely, the Twilights continued their conversation.

"I think that the fact that we even know that is a possibility is evidence that we can put enough trust in our memory for now."

"That's exactly what she wants us to think."

"If any of you care, I can't actually alter your memory here," Luna interjected.

"See!" Opposition shouted. "She wants us to think we're exactly who we think we are!"

"So? I want to keep existing. Even if we were subjectively born a second ago that doesn't make us any less alive. It would be sad if a previous Twilight were killed to make us, but it would also be sad if we died to revive her."

"I've never even heard of a spell that permanently alters behavior…" Luna trailed off.

"Besides, we're suspicious of her. Rather than trying to come up with some excuse for why that's necessary in her scheme, it's more likely that we haven't changed. Unless you can think of some piece of evidence we haven't considered?"

Sitting down, Luna mumbled, "Why am I even bothering…"

"…No, I can't," grumbled Opposition. "But that doesn't mean we should just accept what we think we know."

"Look, if we stumble on _any_ evidence that suggests what we believe is not consistent with reality, we'll do a full fact check. Or at least check a large sample. Otherwise, this is just pointless bickering. Idle speculation doesn't get us anywhere.

"Besides, memories are only useful to predict future events. Like, we enjoy Celestia's company, or gravity pulls things towards Equus. We're only so opposed to losing memories because we lose predictive power and having changes made because we end up with faux predictive power. And also out of existential terror too, I suppose."

Opposition scoffed at Advocate's cavalier dismissal of the danger Luna posed but said nothing. She always knew when she had won or lost an argument.

"Just don't blame me when it turns out that we have something critically important wrong and everything blows up in our face."

"Fine. We'll triple check our facts when it really counts instead of just double checking. Happy?"

"…No."

"Too bad."

In a blink, Twilight was a single pony again.

Standing back up, Luna asked, "Are you going to pay attention to me again?"

"Huh, yeah. I was just thinking."

"No, you very much were not _thinking_. You were _talking_. With three of you."

"What? But…how?"

"I was hoping _you_ would tell me. Since you didn't use any magic, I can only assume that you have some sort of split personality problem."

"Um, no, not really. I just do that when I want to debate with myself. It's not exactly a secret, but I don't go around telling ponies about it."

"Huh," mused Luna, clearly giving the matter some thought. "I guess the concept is just strongly ingrained in your psych. Anyway, if you'll look behind you, I think I can help you dispel some of that despair."

Turning around, Twilight found a portal that looked exactly like the one that had brought her to Luna's dream world. It swirled with a light and dark blue spiral which Twilight still suspected was something Luna did on purpose, rather than it being natural.

"Where does this go?"

"Back to your dream. Go try to cast a memory spell on yourself with unicorn magic and dream magic. I think you'll be surprised."

"Why are you–" Twilight realized that Luna had said she was talking, and that meant she had heard everything. Blushing Twilight asked, "Um… I guess since you already heard my…thoughts…I might as well ask how I can verify if it's my own dream."

"You'll know. Now that you've been in somepony else's dream, you'll notice the difference when you get back."

With a nod, Twilight entered the portal and exited out the other end into a room that looked like the first floor of her tower. Once she was all the way through, she knew _exactly_ what Luna was talking about. It was not a feeling in the emotional sense, but everything she saw was familiar and intimate. The sights, the smells, the textures, the sounds: it all screamed Twilight.

"How did I not notice this before? This world is so…so personal."

Twilight took a moment just to immerse herself in the sensation of herself. Unlike the two previous times she had calmed herself for dream magic, this time she accidentally slipped into the mood in a heartbeat.

Bending the dream to her will, she created a small, encrypted, floating sign that, when decoded, said _Testing memory spells. Test successful if memory of creating this sign is forgotten._ Next, she tried insisting that she could not remember creating the message.

_Huh. It's not working. Let's try conventional spells._

Twilight dusted off her memories of the only branch of magic she hated and cast a spell to make her forget the sign, a spell to make her lose all memory of the sign, and a spell to make her remember the sign having a different message. All three spells failed completely.

_Weeeeird. If this is, in fact, my dream then all of those should have worked. I suppose I can try again when I assign higher probability that I'm in my own dream, but…I don't know. This place just… _Twilight tried to find the right word, but the not-feeling this dream world gave her was something that nopony had ever had the need to invent words for. …_feels…right. I'm probably in my dream world._

_So then, why didn't–_

With a quick exercise of mental will, Twilight created a notebook and an inkless quill that would record her thoughts. She then recorded the experiments she already had went through and the results.

_So, why didn't any of those work?_

_Assuming Luna didn't interfere somehow, it's probably safe to say that memory magic in general doesn't work. But that is a very small branch of a much larger branch of magic and really all magic is more or less the same when you boil it down enough. There shouldn't be any reason why that particular field is excluded from–_

_Hmm, I may have them disabled by default in this world. But that wouldn't explain why the dream magic version failed. Still, I'll try again._

With all memory magic specifically enabled, Twilight tried the spells again as well as dream magic and received the same results.

_Okay, that wasn't the problem. What similar spells do I know off the top of my head that I think should fail. I guess the drunkenness spell is sort of the same. It affects the mind. I'll try that._

With a flash of her horn, Twilight's vision blurred and her body swayed back and forth as she struggled to maintain her balance.

_Okay, this is unpleasant. I _feel _drunk, but I'm barely mentally impaired – if at all. I'm going to guess a dizziness spell will work just fine._

Dismissing the effects of her last spell, Twilight put herself under the effects of a dizzy spell and promptly fell over.

_Okay, new plan. Change the hardness property of ivory to 'a gentle embrace' when doing magical experiments in the tower in the future._

_Anyways, I would guess that mental effects don't work while physical ones do, but I'm in a dream. Everything should be a mental effect. Unless I'm being affected by these spells in the real world too, but there shouldn't be any reason for that to be the case. Especially since I don't feel the fatigue of casting here after shutting off the magical limits._

_That's at least easy to test once I get a clock in here. Or really before then, but it would make it easier on the real world pony helping if I had one._

_But if it's all mental effects, I don't see why memory spells would be excluded._

_Now that I think about it, emotions are still working, so I should still have _some _kind of connection with–_

"Twilight, what's keeping you?" Luna asked as she stepped through the portal.

Twilight turned around to see Luna gazing straight at her new notebook and quill. It was not long before Luna went for a facehoof.

"I suppose I should have seen this coming. I leave you alone to help you see the tests as unbiased and you start up a full experiment."

Continuing after a sigh, Luna said, "You know, I did bring ponies over to play a game. It's not like they can't entertain themselves for awhile, but still."

Enveloped in the cobalt blue color of Luna's magic, Twilight was thrown through the portal and landed roughly on the other side, tumbling end over end once before stopping on her rump. Turning around, Twilight could see Luna walk through the portal which closed behind her.

_Great, I'm back here. At least I have some small comfort for having failed at those memory spells._

With a teleport, Luna took the two mares to another room where four ponies were waiting. There was a light purple unicorn with a slightly pinker mane and tail and a cutie mark showing grapes and a strawberry. Talking with her was a dark blue unicorn sporting a mandolin on her haunch. Her mane and tail were dark gray with a dull colored highlight in the center.

Then there was a pegasus with a lighter blue coat and a fluffy pink mane and tail reminiscent of Pinkie Pie but somehow even wilder. Oddly enough, despite clearly being an adult, he bore no cutie mark.

Lastly came something Twilight had never seen before: a crystal pony. Underneath the sparkling luster or her body, she seemed to have a tan coloration with a gray or possibly dark green mane and tail. How they both managed to flex and bounce like regular hair, Twilight had no idea. The same went for the rest of her body. She had an envelope cutie mark and was the only one of the four wearing any clothes, but that was restricted to a set of odd, winged boots.

Catching Twilight staring at her, the crystal pony asked, "First time seeing a crystal pony?"

"Um…yeah. I've heard a small bit about you, but I didn't know that the crystal part was meant literally. If you don't mind me asking, how does that…you know, work?"

"No idea. I'm pretty sure I wasn't big on anatomy, but my entire species is sort of suffering from amnesia. We can vaguely remember bits of our lives up until Luna and Princess Celestia rushed in and beat up our evil king, but it's rarely anything useful. Usually something like a particularly good meal."

"I see…" _Well that should be interesting when they come back._

Clapping her hooves together, Luna said, "Right then, let's get to introductions before we get her trying to dissect you. How about your name, where you're from, and something embarrassing about you."

Noticing Twilight's stare after requesting origins, Luna smirked. Obviously the sampling would be biased, but Luna was brazenly giving her the chance to talk to character witnesses in the real world.

"I guess I'll go first," the crystal pony said. "I'm Quicksilver. Obviously from somewhere in the crystal empire. The capital, I think. As for something embarrassing…" With what looked like a blush, Quicksilver finished, "I suspect I lost my virginity in my dreams."

"Yeah, I'm not topping that one," the pegasus said with a faint trace of a familiar accent.

Curious, Twilight asked, "Are you a breezie?"

"You can tell? I thought I worked out my accent but I guess I've still got some polish to add. Anyways, I'm Seabreeze, one of the few breezies that isn't a complete and total pushover nor an airhead. Obviously, I'm from the breezie homeland. Our population isn't large enough to warrant more than one city. Before you ask, I'm a pegasus because now," Seabreeze shifted to a much louder, clearly tried voice, "I make the breeze!"

Reverting to a normal tone instantly, Seabreeze added, "Anyways, an embarrassing fact; I'm allergic to pollen."

"What, really?" Twilight inquired incredulously.

"Yep. It makes spring a real pain in the wing."

"I guess that makes me next," said the blue unicorn. "I'm Blue Belle, from Canterlot. If you've ever heard of her, I occasionally play with Octavia the cellist."

Twilight facehoofed and really hoped that Blue Belle never talked about this with Octavia or Esp. "Yes, I know her. Her husband and I are acquainted."

"Huh, small world. Something embarrassing… A couple of years ago at the Grand Galloping Gala, I was the one that got hit in the face with an oyster when the griffin ambassador made the archmage snap."

With a nervous laugh, Twilight said, "I'm sorry."

Clearly taking her apology as an expression of sympathy, Blue Belle dismissed it as something long done with.

"That leaves me then," said the purple unicorn. "I'm Berry Punch."

_The Ponyville town drunk? Isn't she an earth pony?_

"I'm from Ponyville and I used to be the town drunk. Like, in the most literal sense. The town is just the right size to have a town drunk and for that to be 'cute' in some sense of the word."

With the three mares and Seabreeze waiting expectantly, Twilight informed, "I'm Twilight."

"Twilight like the archmage?" Blue Belle asked. "I have to know, is that your real name?"

"…Yes, it is. Twilight, like, _the_ archmage."

Eagerly, Berry Punch asked, "Why are you an alicorn?"

"Luna thinks I have culture issues which is a bit better than my guess on the matter."

"How old are you?" Blue Belle asked.

"Twenty-two."

"Then why are you a filly?" Berry Punch followed up.

"Same reason. Anyways I'm–"

"What are you normally?"

"A unicorn. I'm–"

"Can you fly?"

"I'm not terrible at it, but I'm not nearly as good as a pegasus or a griffin." Turning to Seabreeze, Twilight added, "I would say a breezie too, but…"

"No, that's fine. I understand _perfectly_. My species is a huge pain to deal with."

"Anyways, obviously, I'm from Canterlot. I guess this is harmless, but I would appreciate it all the same if you didn't sell it to the press. Between the age of nine and thirteen, I slept with Celestia pretty much every night."

Everypony but Twilight enjoyed a good laugh. Except for Luna, the other four slowly grew nervous as they realized that Twilight was not jesting.

Luna, the only pony still laughing, gibed, "Wow, I didn't know you were so…precocious."

Stomping her tiny hoof to comedic effect, Twilight denied Luna's crude remark.

"Um… Luna…" Blue Belle weakly said. "Is this– Is she the–"

"Yes," Luna answered.

Twilight interjected before any of the four ponies managed to do something irritating, "Just treat me like you do Luna."

From the looks of the ponies across from her, Twilight had cut off two concurrent apologies from the unicorns and a bow from Quicksilver. Seabreeze had not moved an inch, causing Twilight to suspect that between Luna and his own Queen, he was more than used to royalty and equivalents eschewing etiquette.

"So, Twilight" – Seabreeze waited momentarily to see if she made any objections – "have you ever played a tabletop RPG before? Live action or otherwise?"

"No, but I've read most of the rulebook and I'm familiar with a lot of the ideas. As long as I'm being pressed into this, I might as well warn you that I've been told I'm not exactly a team player."

"Right, so not a cleric then. I'm more or less a rouge this campaign, Quicksilver's playing a joke character as a bard, Blue Belle is playing a glass cannon, and Berry Punch is basically a monk."

Far from an expert, even Twilight knew a losing combination when she saw one. "How did you make it past one session?"

Clearly long-suffering, Seabreeze answered, "In the system we're using this campaign, it's hard to actually die."

Hoof on face, Twilight sighed. "I'll just play a cleric. I need to work on my teamwork anyways."

* * *

It was near noon when Index awoke. After six or so stress-relieving hours of clobbering things with a morning star twice her size, her party members had stopped being tired and awoken.

Once they were alone, Luna had pestered Twilight with questions about herself and recent history for hours until, with mixed surprise, Twilight had felt herself waking up.

_So, how do I tell if this is a dream? I can build a clock again, but I need to find another test in the future so I don't have to keep my knowledge of clocks limited. Still it's really the only test I have right now that I know works. But it's also dependent on dream magic making me a bad clock which I can't replicate in Luna's dream or in the real world…_

Slowly lifting the blankets placed on her with telekinesis, Index found her magic to be working fine and her muscles were cooperating, allowing her to roll out of bed. After stretching, Index started recasting enchantments on herself, beginning with the less complex and working up, cumulating in folding space for her bag of holding and reapplying her polymorph under her own magic.

Once that was done, she lazily started refilling her storage with the items that were tucked away in the hospital room.

_What other things could I do that I expect to only work…in the…_

Trailing off into a facehoof, Index conjured a piece of paper and wrote an encrypted note to her future self saying, _If we forgot writing this, we're not in a dream…probably. Written at _– Twilight discreetly glanced at a nearby clock – _11:39:42_. Firing off a memory spell, Index looked at the mysterious note in front of her.

_Okay, so there _could _be a _very _elaborate scheme going on that's making me believe I'm not in a dream, but I'm going to accept this as proving that I'm not in a dream unless some evidence to the contrary appears._

Returning to her packing, Index finished off the last of the pile with a deficit of two elements.

_I'm missing _two _elements? That's just– I was asleep and I worked twice as hard._

_There's no justice in this world._

Just in case, Index sent off a message to Celestia asking if she took Generosity or Kindness. Her friend's response was quick and to the negative.

_Huh, well, I could just summon them back, but I might as well try to track them down first. I'll also need to start thinking in another language with Generosity floating around._

_For now, I think I'll pay Berry Punch a visit first since I already know roughly were she lives. Speaking of which…_

Index sent off a message to Esp to get EIS to find, and to take no further action against, Blue Belle and Seabreeze.

Thinking to leave, Index opened her room's door to discover a startled Nurse Redheart with a hoof extended to open the absent door.

"Perfect timing," said Index. "I was just going to find you. It's really important that I get a list of everypony that's been in this room."

Recovering, Nurse Redheart answered, "Is this about the stuff that Sweetie Belle took? She said that she had your permission."

Index shook her head. "That was at my request." _But it does make her a prime suspect. _"Remember I said that the tiara was classified information?"

"Oh, yes," muttered the nurse. "Well, there's myself, the ponies I mentioned the last time you were awake, Doctor Hooves, Nurse Sweetheart, Scootaloo with Rainbow Dash, Berry Nectar, Applejack, and the Cakes."

"Oh, by the way, who was it that organized my stuff? I'd like to thank them."

"No idea," responded Nurse Redheart. "It was already like… And it's gone as mysteriously as it came."

After enjoying a small laugh, Index said, "Don't worry about that. It's a unicorn trick. Anyway, thanks for the information. Can I assume my bill is taken care of?"

"Yes, we didn't do anything special that's not covered by the national system, but you shouldn't be leaving yet. You've suffered from an unknown disease – or something – and we need to keep you for observation. There's no telling what could happen to you in the coming days."

"Perhaps, but I've lost too much time already. I can't laze around here any longer."

"You don't have to worry about the festival," the nurse said with her hoof resting on Index's shoulder. "The mayor has things well in hoof."

Deciding it would be most expedient to put on the pressure, Index said, "That's not it. A pony doesn't end up in the hospital suffering from a mysterious illness from festival work. I would think that obvious, but I am well aware that most ponies do not think that way. I have things that need doing, and you will not say a word about this to anypony. Understood?"

The last word Index said with the full force and command she had learned from years of working as the archmage. The nurse took a nervous step back and visibly gulped, but recovered nearly immediately with a steeled expression.

In the most merciless tone Index had ever heard from a doctor or nurse, one completely lacking any bedside manner, Nurse Redheart asked, "Are we to expect you back here in a week?"

"Maybe in two," Index flippantly answered, "but probably not."

Ignoring the nurse's glare, Index walked right past her and out of the room. Following the posted signs, she made her way out of the hospital and found a shady area outside. Being affixed to the outskirts of Ponyville, the hospital provided no shortage of locations without prying eyes.

Hiding herself in an illusion, Index dropped her polymorph and teleported in two jumps into the middle of Ponyville near where she suspected Berry Punch lived. Spying a shady spot behind a house, Twilight made a third jump to it. She briefly considered putting on her torc, but decided against it to make the visit more informal. And as an afterthought, to draw less attention if she needed to ask for directions.

Dispelling her illusion, Twilight took her first steps into Ponyville as herself. Even in the depths of the residential district, there was no shortage of stray ponies wandering around. A few of them she recognized from either an introduction by Pinkie Pie or from when she had run around town investigating the mare, but most of the ponies went unrecognized.

Nopony paid her any mind at first, but that only lasted a few seconds. New ponies in Ponyville never went unnoticed thanks to Pinkie Pie's behavior. Twilight could hear the hushed whispers between ponies that thought they were out of earshot and it took all of thirty seconds for somepony to recognize her cutie mark.

As the knowledge spread, ponies moved out of Twilight's way as she walked and tried not to look interested in the most pathetic way possible. Listening to the inane buzz of conversation in the background for the first time in her life, Twilight found herself surprised by what was said, even with Pinkie Pie's warning.

"See, it is her. Just look at the cutie mark."

"What's she doing in Ponyville?"

"Dear Celestia. My brother is going to just die when he hears."

"Maybe she's here to find a lover away from Canterlot politics. It could even be _me_."

"Do you think we can talk to her?"

"I thought she'd be taller. You know, like the princess."

"I hear it's a secret rendezvous."

"She doesn't sign autographs. I remember that very distinctly from the last Summer Sun Festival."

"She's here for a tryst? Does Princess Celestia know?"

"That's what I heard too."

"Maybe they have one of those…arrangements."

"There might be room for one more."

More and more ponies gathered as the news spread and, despite the growing size of the crowd, everypony was still content to politely feign disinterest while gossiping out of an ordinary pony's earshot. Twilight went straight for a facehoof.

_I'm so glad Pinkie Pie already knows who I am. I'm beyond doubt that that's the only reason she's not already here dragging me away to a party she pulled out of nowhere. Ponyville gossip spreads way too fast. She might even have a Pinkie Sense for new ponies now that I think about it._

_And why are these rumors coalescing into me having a secret love affair here while two-timing Celestia? Honestly. If I were here for a secret meeting, I should think it utterly obvious that nopony would know I'm here._

Twilight singled out a random earth pony with a point of her hoof. After he questioningly pointed at himself and a nod from Twilight, he approached showing a mix of eagerness and concern.

"What can I do for you, Archmage Twilight Sparkle?"

"I appear to be lost. I am looking for the residence of Berry Punch. Could you give me directions?"

Confused, the stallion asked, "Berry Punch, your excellency?"

On the off chance that the mare in question had lied, given a nickname, or otherwise disappeared between when she woke up and when Twilight woke up, Twilight clarified, "Yes. She should be a purple earth pony. I have been led to believe that she is often referred to as the 'town drunk' despite the accuracy of such a title being in doubt. Do you require further description?"

"Uh…no. I know her. I just–" The stallion shook his head, as though ridding himself of his questions. "She lives two streets further down this road. Take a left and she's–she is at the sixth house on the right. She should be home with her daughter right now."

Before he, or anypony else, could say another word, Twilight gave her short thanks and teleported in two blinks to the front of Berry Punch's house. It was much smaller than the Sugarcube Corner and a room or two short of Lyra Heartstring's house. Like nearly every other dwelling in Ponyville, it had a second story half the size of the first floor with a small balcony.

Twilight knocked on the door which was soon answered by a filly unicorn that looked an awful lot like how Berry Punch had appeared in Luna's dream. The only obvious difference, besides size, was her cutie mark was a four leave clover instead of a bunch of grapes with an oversized strawberry.

_I guess this would be the daughter._

Before Twilight could even open her mouth, the filly gasped like Pinkie Pie and ran off inside leaving the door wide open.

Unbalanced, Twilight said to herself, "…Okay. I'll just let myself in."

The inside of the house was very boring. Everything Twilight could see was just another odd and end of domestic life without a single shelf of books overflowing in pursuit of secrets and truth to be seen.

"Hello?" Twilight called out. "Berry Punch?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" the familiar voice of Berry Punch returned.

Drowning out the background noises of Ponyville and the filly upstairs, Twilight focused in on the sound of boiling water and stirring coming from nearby. Oddly reminded of Spike, she followed the sounds of cooking until she found the mare she was seeking.

"Hello again, Berry Punch."

"Huh?" Turning around, Berry Punch said, "You're not Colgate."

"Your powers of observation continue to baffle me."

"Contin–oh!" Twilight had flashed her cutie mark to help speed the process along. "Arch–Twilight…"

Following up her glare, Twilight said, "When I said treat me informally, I didn't just mean in the dream world. I get plenty enough stuffiness when I'm in Canterlot."

"So, um, Twilight… What, uh, brings you here?"

"I want to ask you about Luna outside the influence of dream worlds. I don't want her listening in." _And I need to check your memory for tampering. I wish I could bring the seapony without making it obvious who I am._

Berry Punch turned her attention back to her cooking in a panic as her pot nearly boiled over. Once it was under control, she asked, "That's fine, but why? You could have just asked me last night."

Biting her lip in search of an answer she could give to a friend of Luna's, Twilight went with, "I didn't want to ruin my chance at some fun last night with…investigation." The last word she said begrudgingly, cursing her vocabulary for not coming up with something more innocuous.

"Oh." Then Berry Punch repeated herself, as if coming to some understanding, "Oh! I see." She spared a glance for a quick wink and turned back to her cooking. "I'd be happy to help you however, although I hear Luna is pretty open about that. What do you want to know?" After a moment's pause, she added, "Also, do you want to join us for lunch? My daughter, Berry Pinch, is a big fan. Maybe not as much as Sweetie Belle, but she'd still love it if you stayed."

"Yeah, that'd be great. I haven't eaten solid food in days."

Berry Punch stopped stirring and turned around with a look that said 'what?'.

"Don't ask. The life of the archmage is someti–usually unpleasant." Taking a seat at a nearby stool placed at a counter, Twilight continued, "Why don't we just start with how you two met."

The earth pony took a deep breath and an even longer sigh. "Can you do some magic stuff to make sure Pinch doesn't hear what we're saying?"

With several flashes of her horn, Twilight said, "Done." The first flash was her checking Berry Punch's memory for any traces of magical tampering that might remain; there were no such signs. The last flash was her placing the usual simple illusion to hide her spellcasting in case she needed to do anything else.

Twilight then added, "Just so you know, I think your daughter is going to come down soonish. The noise she was making has died down quite a bit." At Berry Punch's confused look, Twilight said, "I've got good hearing."

"Okay, I'll try to keep this short. So, Pinch is a little over ten years old, and I met Luna nearly five years ago. I'm really hoping that she'll completely forget about what I was like before she was five, even if she has to hear it secondhoof everyday.

"As I said last night, I used to be the town drunk. I meant that as literally as anypony ever could. I went to bed every night wasted and woke up every morning with a hangover.

"I know it's no excuse, but I lost my husband shortly after Pinch was born and it hit me really hard. I loved to drink and party even before then, but more and more I turned to them to forget.

"And then, as Pinch grew, I started to understand exactly what it means to be a different species than your offspring. The stress sent me spiraling out of control. If it weren't for Colgate helping out all the time, I probably would have had foal services called on me. Pinch, she– I don't know how… Somehow she still loved me and looked up to me. That was really the only reason I didn't die of alcohol poisoning."

Berry Punch stopped her work and her story to dry her eyes. Twilight took this as a cue to interject to gain some sympathy points. She thought Berry Punch was telling the truth, but it would not hurt to employ some more subtle tactics.

"I can't say I completely understand, but I'm mother to a dragon named Spike. He can get a bit trying at times for reasons entirely alien to me."

After a small sniff, Berry Punch suggested, "You should try spending some time as a dragon. Dreaming as a unicorn was Luna's suggestion to me. That was the main thing that helped turn my life around. Supplementing that, Luna had me drink myself to death several times. And then there were the nightmares." Berry Punch shivered momentarily. "She's very good at finding ways to motivate a pony."

"Wait. Were those normal nightmares, or nightmares in her dream world?"

"They were in her dream world. Although, I had a lot of really unpleasant ones for a couple weeks before my first time in the dream world. Apparently, Luna was responsible for those, but she apologized.

"Anyways, that's the long and short about how we met. After I sobered up, she started introducing me to other ponies and I found out that I loved playing RPG games and we bonded over that really fast."

_Well, that's certainly a very lovely picture you've painted of yourself, Luna. I wonder what you've got lined up with the other three._

Scooping out a few spaghetti noodles with her spoon, Berry Punch sampled them. Deciding they were done, she donned a pair of gloves over her hooves and carried the pot over to the sink to drain out the water.

"That's all in the past now." Changing to a cheery voice, Berry Punch continued, "And besides, you don't really want to hear about me, you want to hear about Luna.

"Really, there's so much to say that I don't know where to begin."

"Why don't you start with her worst qualities?" Twilight suggested.

Laughing, Berry Punch agreed. "She's an incurable prankster and holds grudges, often combining the two. I don't know how long you've known her, but eventually that will start popping up if it hasn't already."

"Actually, I only meet her a few days ago, but I was aware she existed before then."

"Oh my. That was fast." – Twilight raised an eyebrow – "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Celestia knows that I see a lot of that at the Prancing Pony – That's the tavern I run."

Berry Punch returned the noodles to the pot and started added various chopped vegetables that she had lying nearby.

"Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes. Luna keeps a lot of secrets. We have no idea what it is that's troubling her, but she evades a few topics when they come up. But then again, I imagine you don't get to be her or Princess Celestia's age without picking up a thing or two the world would be better off not knowing."

"I see. Are you willing to tell me what those topics are?"

"I don't think I should…"

"Do they have anything to do with Princess Celestia, where Luna is, why she's a princess, what she's doing, et cetera?"

"Um… Some of them, yes. Have you already managed to stumble onto those topics with her?"

"Sort of. Our relationship is…complicated. Let's just say I have a lot of extra knowledge going into it. Continue with what you were saying."

"Right…" trailed off Berry Punch. "So, Luna can get a bit controlling at times. It's easiest to see if you play enough games with her as the GM. Sometimes she gets a little unresponsive and starts railroading us like crazy.

"And she's a ridiculously good liar. There was this one time where we sat down at a proper table to play a game and Luna was the GM for that one and Seabreeze…this is going to take some setup. Let me back up.

"So, sometimes Seabreeze likes to play characters with, to put it lightly, subpar intelligence. He says it makes him feel like an actual breezie. Unfortunately, before we started the campaign, he didn't tell us he was going to do that and he ended up in a position of authority over the group so he got to call the shots."

"Oh, wow," Twilight commented. "I think I know where this is going, but tell me anyway. This is going to be great."

As she was mixing mashed tomatoes into the spaghetti, Berry Punch chuckled and continued, "Oh, it is pretty fantastic. So, we were stuck in a town and needed money to buy a ride out to escape the mob and that was were Seabreeze's _brilliant_ planning skills came into play. He decided that it would be a smart idea to go to the derby – which was run _by_ the mob – and take what money we already had and gamble it to get more.

"So naturally he put everything on the pony with the worst odds to get the biggest payout and that's where it starts to get complicated. Seabreeze split the party and hoofed Luna his plan while the rest of us tried to salvage the situation by trying to find the right ponies to lean on for the inside dirt.

"The important part to take away here is that we knew that Seabreeze's plan was going to be stupid with a capital S, but Luna didn't even crack a smile. She just read it and asked for a couple clarifications. Turned out that it was the most asinine scheme ever–"

"Your daughter is about to walk in, just so you know," interrupted Twilight.

As soon as Twilight finished, Berry Pinch burst into the kitchen with a quill and thick book floating alongside her. Looking closer at the cover, it appeared to be the Daring Do novel that Twilight had guest starred in.

"Archmage Twilight, would you sign this please? Pretty please? With sugar on top and a whole bushel of bananas?"

Sighing inwardly as Berry Pinch looked up at her with the adorable eyes only a filly could make, Twilight took the quill in her magic and signed the book.

With the book hugged closer to her by her forehooves, Berry Pinch excitedly raved, "Thank you so much. Sweetie's going to be so jealous when I tell her I met you. Sorry for running away earlier. I just had to find this as quickly as possible and I didn't remember where I put it. What are you doing here anyway? There's never much going on in Ponyville. But I suppose there's the festival coming up here so you could be here for that–"

Mouth sealed by Twilight, Berry Pinch found herself unable to continue rambling.

"Now then, I'm going to release the spell I put on you, and when that happens, I'd like you to stop channeling Pinkie Pie. Can you do that?"

Berry Pinch nodded her head in huge rapid movements and then again in slower ones when one of Twilight's eyebrows rose. As soon as Berry Pinch appeared to settle down, Twilight released her magic.

"To answer your question, I'm here to talk to your mother. We're…friends."

As Twilight finished, Berry Pinch's eyes grew wider and she inhaled more air than should be able to fit in her lungs.

"Speaking of which," Berry Punch said, "Ar–Twilight will be joining us for lunch which is just about done. Will you go set the table for us? Colgate should be coming too, so get it ready for four."

Agreeing quickly, a few cupboards and drawers flew open and Berry Pinch gathered what they would need and took them out of the kitchen, and out of the privacy wards.

"She's out of earshot," Twilight said, "if you care."

Berry Punch pulled out a large bowl and poured the spaghetti into it. Next she opened up the oven and removed a pan of garlic bread, once more wearing gloves on her hooves. As she worked, Berry Punch said, "Thanks for signing the book and not…"

"Flying into a sleep deprived rage?"

"Um… Yeah. I've read the newspaper story, and… Well…"

"It's okay. I know I'm not a pony of the ponies like Celestia, and it works out in a way. I do all the stuff that she's too nice for, but sometimes it catches up to me and I freak out. On the upside, after that incident, nopony's bothered me for autographs since. Anyway, could you finish your story? I really want to hear what happened."

"Ah, yeah. So, while we were fumbling around trying to save our skins, Seabreeze was off on his own. It would probably be better to tell the story as it was revealed, but I'm sure I'd mess it up if I tried.

"The first thing that Seabreeze did was find the pony he bet on and convinced him to fake an injury and drop out of the race. So now that we had assuredly lost all of our money, he took out a line of credit – we still don't know who with; Luna wouldn't tell us – equivalent to what we would have won to bribe some low rung mob thugs to sabotage the other racers.

"Of course, this meant that if by some miraculous means our dark horse got back into the race and managed to win, the mob would have called shenanigans.

"Unsatisfied with his disaster, Seabreeze _somehow_ managed to enter himself into the race in the vacant spot, not realizing that the don we were trying to run away from liked to watch the races personally. Or maybe he did. It's usually hard to tell with him.

"So, naturally when the race came around, everypony ended up crippled in some fashion by the ponies Seabreeze bribed, including Seabreeze himself. Then they captured him and gave him to the don for the reward who found out that he had bet on the first injured horse for the money to flee town. Apparently, the don just laughed when he found out that Seabreeze was racing for the first prize cash. I, at least, thought it would be obvious that they wouldn't just hoof it over to him without recognizing him.

"Then he was thrown into the mob's jail 'for later' and, defying all odds, managed to escape. After that, he tracked down the goons he bribed and beat them up for the reward money, paid off his creditor, and returned to us with a suitcase half-filled with bits.

"_And then _he actually said that it was his plan all along to get himself double-crossed to legitimately get the reward for his capture out on the streets to steal, and the whole point of everything else was to make his capture believable."

Twilight had to resist the onslaught of laughter with all her might and a little magical assistance in order to listen to the end, but as soon as Berry Punch finished, she collapsed onto the counter in a laughing fit.

Wheezing, Twilight managed, "Oh– That's– That's worse tha-than some of the– whew– the fools that I-I've fought."

It was to this scene that another pony come into Twilight's vision at the entrance to the kitchen. She was a light blue unicorn with a white and blue mane and tail. On her haunch she sported an hourglass cutie mark.

"So what's so funny, Berry?"

"I was just telling a story about a game I played a few years ago."

"Huh? Anyway, three things. First, what you've got resting on the counter smells fantastic."

"Well, now that you're here we can start eating. Could you go ahead and carry everything to the dinner table for me?"

"Sure," the mare answered, grabbing hold of the plateful of garlic bread and the bowl of pasta. "So, second. There's a huge crowd of ponies out on the other side of the street. I have no idea why."

Twilight subdued what remained of her giggles and turned her head on the counter to face the newcomer.

"That's probably my fault. Don't worry about them."

"Right, that's the third thing. Who are you?"

In answer, Twilight pointed to her cutie mark and a second, smaller fit of giggles seized Twilight as the blue mare nearly dropped their lunch in surprise.

* * *

"Rarity! Sweetie Belle! Quit all yer froufrou nonsense 'n come on down!" called Applejack from the first floor of the Carousel Boutique.

Upstairs in her room, Sweetie Belle was rearranging her favorite saddlebags that had her idol's cutie mark stitched into the sides. Rarity had made them for her as a birthday present a few years ago and they had seen a lot of wear since. At the moment, they contained Index's stolen sphere and a small stack of papers Sweetie Belle had retrieved earlier this morning.

She had been planning to read the papers with the crusaders, but their plans had changed with the news Scootaloo had brought. Apparently, one of the more popular entertainers had arrived early and was going to perform just after noon.

Also in the bag was a few loose bits, several medical implements in case of intense crusading, two decks of playing cards, and a wingful of assorted sweets. Unfortunately, no matter how she tried to arrange the contents, Sweetie Belle could not find a way to make the sphere unobtrusive.

With a sigh, she buttoned her saddlebags, threw them over her back, and headed downstairs where Applebloom, Scootaloo, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were waiting.

"Finally," Rainbow Dash said, vexed. "What kept you?"

"I was just packing my bags."

"What do you need saddlebags for?" asked Rainbow Dash. The two other crusaders eyed the spherical bulge and looked at each other, sending some silent message between them. "We're just going to town square to see a show."

"Well…" Sweetie Belle began, trying to hide her unease. "You never know what could happen with us around."

"Ya can say tha' ag'in," commented Applejack. "Now wha's keepin' yer sis?"

"Oh, be patient, Applejack," Rarity said as she walked down the stairs. "Just because you like to look like a country bumpkin does not mean that the rest of us must as well. There is always time to be fashionably late."

Sweetie Belle turned around to look at her sister. Despite all of the lessons Rarity had drilled into her, she still could not see the difference between the current version and the usual one. If there was any.

The only recent change she had noticed in her sister was not physical at all. Rarity had shaken Sweetie Belle down for Spike's and Star Charmer's letter after returning from Sweet Apple Acres and had casually dismissed it once she had read it. That had not been like the usual Rarity, but Sweetie Belle had decided not to risk her escape by pursing the matter further.

"Well, now tha' we're finally all _here_," Applejack deadpanned and gesturing about _Rarity's_ house, "let's get goin'."

With impatient assent from the other three non-unicorns, the group of six exited the store and headed out into the outskirts of Ponyville. As usual for this part of town, it being filled with specialty shops, things were quiet. Besides the shop owners, only a wingful of ponies would visit on any given day.

However, as they entered into Ponyville proper, the distinct lack of ponies became troubling.

"Okay, _somethin's_ goin' on here. I'll be hog tied 'n dipped in butter 'fore tha' Trixie pony draws tha entire town to 'er show."

Rainbow Dash zoomed skyward at Applejack's words leaving only an, "I'll see what's up," behind her.

"I reckon tha' it's 'bout time tha' we had another disaster." Turning her attention from Rainbow Dash to the crusaders as the pegasus flew off towards the opposite side of town, Applejack continued, "'Fore ya'll's last tree sap incident, it's been a couple 'a weeks since Ponyville's last infestation or monster attack. Tha parasprites were somethin' awful."

"Do not forget those dreadful vampire fruit bats before that," added Rarity.

"Or the ursa minor," Scootaloo tacked on.

"Or tha dragon."

Not wanting to be left out, Sweetie Belle said, "Or that incident with Zecora."

"Righ', tha point is, we're do fer somethin' soon."

Slamming to the ground on her hooves in a cloud of dust, Rainbow Dash returned in a rainbow color blur.

"So, darling, what is going on?"

With only a slight grimace at the word darling, Rainbow Dash answered, "There's two crowds gathering. There's the crowd waiting for Trixie's show to start, and then there's another one all the way north outside Berry Punch's house."

"Why would anypony be gatherin' there?" Applejack asked. "Did Berry Punch revert to 'er old ways or somethin'?"

"…Probably not. I couldn't get a consistent answer out of anypony. As soon as one pony said something the whole crowd started fighting about it. The most common answer I got was that Berry Punch and Minuette were having a threesome with the archmage while Berry Pinch may or may not be watching."

Four out of the five remaining ponies were stricken with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

The fifth pony, Rarity, only mumbled, "Huh? I wonder what she is doing with Berry Punch."

"You know something about this?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Lifting a forehoof and then slowly bringing it close to the ground, she answered, "Just a little bit, but I am not allowed to say anything for some time."

"Wait, so the archmage is _really_ here in Ponyville?"

Rarity nodded to Rainbow Dash's question. Seeing that, Sweetie Belle bolted off from the rest of the group before anything more could be said.

* * *

By the time everypony else had finished, Twilight was still picking away at her food. Years of absentmindedly nibbling at meals while reading and writing had left her as one of the slowest eaters in the world when she was not pressed for time, the polar opposite of Celestia near sweets.

Berry Pinch had slowly scooted her chair closer to Twilight over the course of the meal and was now right next to her, smiling like a fool. Berry Punch sat across the table with Colgate wedged in between, clearly trying hard not to look as awkward as she obviously felt.

"Alright, I have to ask," said Colgate. "Archmage Twilight, what are you doing here?"

Momentarily delaying another forkful of pasta, Twilight answered, "Just visiting."

"…Do you often visit random ponies?"

"I _never_ visit random ponies," came her response, somehow clear despite a mouth full of noodly obstructions.

Taking the hint, Colgate looked to Berry Punch who nodded in response.

After a failed attempt at words, Colgate shouted, "You two know each other! How?"

Twilight substituted another round of pasta for a response, leaving Berry Punch to answer however she pleased.

"We have a friend in common. It's only recently that we were introduced to one another."

"And who is this friend?" Colgate skeptically asked.

"Um… Would you believe that it's an alicorn named Princess Luna that lives in dreams?"

"That's less even less plausible than just coming out and saying, 'I'm friends with the archmage.'"

"Indeed," Twilight deadpanned. "That's because she doesn't live in dreams. That would be silly. Dream walking is just her primary means of communication at the moment."

"Oh, come on! You're the archmage. Surely you aren't going to–"

Holding up a hoof, Twilight requested, "Hold that thought, if you would. I think we have another guest."

As soon as Twilight finished, a door slammed open and was followed by the pounding of little hooves coming to a stop.

"Berry Pinch!" the voice that was definitely Sweetie Belle's called out quite distressed. "Where is she?"

_Heh, I wonder what took her so long. With the gossip spreading as fast as it did, she should have known sooner._

From Twilight's side, Berry Pinch giggled and answered, "We're in the dinning room!"

Within seconds, Sweetie Belle thundered into the room and locked onto Twilight with her eyes while rapidly jumping in place.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I've always wanted to meet you! I'm Sweetie Belle, and I'm your number one fan in the whole world and everything beyond it! Was that you at the hospital yesterday? If so, I guess I've already met you, but not really _met you_, met you!"

Twilight's eyebrows raised slightly at Sweetie Belle's utter lack of poise in her words. _I guess the Rarity connection only goes so deep._

The next thing Twilight noticed was the saddlebags. They had her cutie mark on them – which was a bit annoying – but more importantly, they had the oddest indentation poking out of one of the bags.

That _looks like an element poking out. But why did she take it if it hasn't awakened for her? Strange… Maybe…_

Quickly but carefully, Twilight cast a few illusions, several miscellaneous wards, and conjured a thin metal shell around the element of roughly the same weight. Next, Twilight teleported the now invisible element out of Sweetie Belle's bag and faintly bumped her with it, producing a necklace just like Lyra Heartstring's. Through the illusion, Twilight could tell that the gem was light purple and of the same old Equestrian cut it had been before awakening.

Flabbergasted and laughing inwardly, Twilight thought, _She didn't touch it! Does this filly treat my every word like some divine law? Oh, wow. I think I'll just put this back as is and let her panic over it._

Managing to pass her delay off as slow chewing, Twilight finally answered Sweetie Belle's question, "Sweetie Belle" – the filly in question squeed – "I'm not Sun Wisp, but I do know her."

"Um…" Sweetie Belle said, suddenly hesitant. "I…I have a question, if you wouldn't mind."

"Ask away."

"How many spells do you know?"

_Horseapples! That's a tax on the memory with only one shot to get right._

Resisting rubbing her forehead with her hooves or her magic, Twilight answered, "I don't know. It depends on how you count spells."

Seeing Sweetie Belle's blank face grow into a bright smile again, Twilight breathed out a sigh of relief.

_Ha! Nailed it!_

"On the topic of you, I need to speak to your sister. Do you know where she'll be in a half-hour?"

Confused, Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side and asked, "My…sister?"

"You are Rarity's little sister, correct?"

"Yes, I am. But why?"

"I have a commission for her and she'll no doubt need my measurements. I was going to stop by while I'm here."

Bringing her jaw – which had by now nearly detached itself in excitement – back into line with the rest of her face, Sweetie Belle answered, "I-I really don't know what to say! This will make Rarity's year, if not her entire life! She should be…with me…in town square. Oh, horsefeathers."

Confused by Sweetie Belle's sudden change in demeanor, Twilight asked, "What's going on in Ponyville's town square?"

Berry Punch, who had been watching amusedly, answered, "One of the showponies for the Summer Sun Celebration is putting on a preview performance. I think her name was Trixie."

"Trixie! She's the one act that I _want_ to see! When does she start?"

"Probably ten minutes ago."

Nearly instantly building up the power for a teleport, Twilight disappeared from the table, only to return an instant later to retrieve the remains of her lunch. Then leaving again, she came back once more after remembering that she had company.

"Do any of you want to come with?"

After a moment's confused delay at the abrupt question, each pony nodded assent.

* * *

_Lights!_

Ponyville town square was covered in a magical darkness, blotting out the midday sun and blinding everypony in the massive crowd. Slowly, an ominous, blue glow grew from the floor of the stage. To the sides and above, the deep red curtains stood stark against the backdrop of town hall and Saddle River. At the back of the stage was a darkness so deep that it seemed to go on forever.

_Atmosphere!_

Emanating from the streets leading to the square and the bridges crossing the river, a thick fog crept into the crowd and towards the stage. It kept low enough to the ground to be off-putting, but not vision obstructing. When it reached the stage, the blue light became hazy and diluted.

_Showtime!_

From the sky, a flurry of solid colors streaked towards center stage in graceful arcs, collecting into a swirling pack of colorful wisps. The vortex grew into a blinding white light and died out as a wave of chilly air and a deafening boom rolled off the stage as a ball of black fire erupted from within. If a pony could have looked at the stage at the time, they would have seen the fire actually casting darkness instead of light.

Once enough time had passed for the crowd's eyes to readjust to the darkness, a white spotlight illuminated the smoke cloud resulting from the explosion. The fog on the stage had been blown away, had curled up at the edges, and was beginning to slide back in like an avalanche in slow motion.

The perfect silence was broken by the steady sound of hooves. From within the cloud of smoke, emerged Trixie wearing her iconic wardrobe. If a pony looked closely, both her hat and cape appeared to have depth, as if a portion of the night sky had been ripped out and had been sewn into the cloth.

"Ponyville!" Trixie's voice resounded everywhere at the same volume. "You have called, and I have answered. I am. The Great! And Powerful! Trixie!"

The fireworks in the sky that accompanied Trixie's proclamation were entirely drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

_Ah! This! This is what I live for!_

Still standing on her hind hooves, Trixie basked in the cheers of her audience. She summoned her long, blue staff with silver inlay, topped with a hollow star containing a crescent moon in a piecemeal fashion starting from the middle and working outward. Then, to support her continued vertical posture, she used it as a third leg.

Slamming her staff to the stage floor, a short downburst dissipated all the fog in the square and silenced the crowd.

"Are you ready to see some magic?"

"Yeah!" the crowd roared.

"Magic that will amaze and astound your moral minds?"

The crowd roared again.

"Magic that would shame even the archmage?"

Once more the crowd roared, this time louder than all the previous times put together. Then, as if on cue, Trixie felt a group of ponies teleport into the back of the crowd.

_What? There's somepony in this backwater town that can teleport? Who is–_

Trixie nearly lost her balance as her scrying spell brought her the image of Twilight Sparkle herself standing with two fillies and two mares and looking directly towards her spell with a hoof extended and circling, telling her to continue, all while taking a bite of spaghetti.

"…Twilight Sparkle…" Trixie grumbled, her magic still sending her voice across the crowd.

A buzz of whispers came from the square as ponies confusedly looked around. Helping the process along, Trixie lit up the area around Twilight Sparkle and drew everypony's attention to the very back of the crowd.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Clearly sighing, Twilight Sparkle answered, her voice rippling through the crowd in the same manner, "I am just here to watch your performance. Nothing more."

Trixie ground her teeth. "I suppose you think I should feel honored by that?"

Twilight Sparkle's only answer was a carefree shrug.

Suppressing her growing irritation as best as she could, Trixie said, "Do you honestly think I would believe that?"

"Yes?"

"Ha! As if! You didn't give me so much as the time of day."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't even remember?"

"I guess not. Can we just get back to you blowing things up?"

"_That's _what you remember about me? Argh! I challenge you to a duel!"

With a facehoof, Twilight Sparkle responded, "Are you serious?"

"Of course! I've hated you since the first time we met."

"Which was…"

"I can't believe you! We were eight! At our examinations! We were the last two ponies to go!"

Twilight Sparkle's forehead scrunched up as her eyebrows contracted inward.

"Eh… I guess I sort of remember _somepony_ pestering me about…something. But I thought your proper name was Beatrix."

"I enrolled under Trixie. It's a much better name. Now get up here so I can beat the daylight out of you."

"Sigh… Fine." Twilight Sparkle teleported to half the stage away from Trixie. Then, with her speech spell altered so that it would only speak to Trixie, Twilight Sparkle said, "If we are going to do this, we need some rules beyond the standard dueling set."

Altering her speech spell in the same way, Trixie asked, "Why? You better not think I need a hooficap."

"That is not it at all," Twilight Sparkle replied with a roll of her eyes. "We are in the middle of an unprotected civilian crowd. If we start slinging serious magic around, somepony is going to get hurt."

Trixie visibly cringed at her carelessness. She hated Twilight Sparkle, but she loved her audience.

"…Alright. Name your terms."

"Other than the dueling missile, first year spells only."

"Do you even know what those are?" Trixie snapped. _It's a good deal though. There's a disproportionate number of illusion spells in that set._

"Yes. I am begrudgingly dragged there to lecture first years on occasion. Anyway, besides that, we dismiss whatever enchantments – except our sub-dimensional storage – we have on us and you send that staff away."

Trixie magically gripped her prized possession a little tighter. It had been a _long_ time since she had gotten involved in a real fight, and even longer still since she had fought without the Nightguardian Staff at her side.

"…Fine. Anything else?"

"Two things. First, how about first to three?"

"Yeah, yeah. Standard duel score. Whatever."

"Second, no brute force counters. I can tell already that you have enough power that we can easily make this descend into a brawl if we allow them."

"Good point," Trixie said with a smirk. Flattery would get a pony anywhere.

"Oh, no telekinesis also." Trixie's grin vanished. "Unless you want me to break all of your bones instantly?"

"You arrogant little–"

"Look, Trixie. I am giving you a _chance_ to win here. Now are we going to put on a show or do you want to lose your audience?"

Twilight Sparkle had invoked the magic a word. In answer, Trixie let go of her staff, making it desummon before hitting the floor. Then she put her clothes in storage and removed her enhancing buffs. Across the stage, Trixie could tell the stuck-up archmage was doing the same, though her horn did not start glowing until she was nearly finished.

Suspending a coin in midair halfway between the pair, Twilight Sparkle said, "Start when this hits the stage," and dropped it.

Immediately after the coin bounced, Trixie sent off a pair of dueling strike spells with an illusion of thousands more, all converging on Twilight Sparkle. When the light died down, Trixie was disappointed, but not surprised to find that neither of the important spells had found its mark while all of the illusions had simply passed through harmlessly.

Looking closer, Trixie could see a thin dome that looked much like a shield around Twilight Sparkle.

"You cheater!"

"Oh please, Trixie. I do not cheat, but neither do I play fair. Watch closely."

A bone chilling wind began swirling around the stage. Trixie shivered and cast an illusion in front of her eyes to hide anything – currently her mane – that got in the way of her sight. Near Twilight Sparkle, tens of thousands of little shards of ice condensed in the air and formed into a vortex following the wind.

_She's making hail with the breeze spell? That's ridiculous!_

_No, it must be an application of the cooling spell. The breeze is just overpowered to control the ice without telekinesis._

Trixie stared down her opponent, waiting to counter an attack that never came.

_What's she waiting for?_

The two continued to stare each other down in the bitter, cold wind.

_Perhaps she can only make a defensive form. In that case…_

Trixie sent off another barrage of fake and real spells but this time had a supercharged heating spell accompany every real attack. Somehow, Twilight Sparkle managed to whack all but one of the real attacks away in a burst of steam and dodged the final one with a quick sidestep.

Then, with a quick flash of her horn, Twilight Sparkle sent off three strike spells of her own that lazily arced towards Trixie. Thinking to easily dodge, Trixie tried to jump back but found her hooves frozen to the stage. Fortunately, she fell downward and accidentally dodged two of the three spells.

Rapidly thawing out her hooves as a second volley came, Trixie jumped backward only to find herself smack on a wall of ice.

_Horseapples!_

Trixie summoned a large volume of water and froze it all immediately, blocking all of Twilight Sparkle's attacks. With a crack, the moderately sized boulder of ice crashed through the stage and sent shrapnel flying everywhere.

Thinking to prevent the audience from getting hit, Trixie turned outward and prepared to catch everything with her telekinesis, but it seemed that Twilight Sparkle had knocked it all straight to the ground with a gust of wind.

To top it off, Trixie was hit by another strike spell that Twilight Sparkle had fired blindly over the chunk of ice with at least twenty more impacting the stage near her.

Melting a small cavern, Trixie ran inside the ice and sealed up the entrance before she could take another hit.

Next she melted a thick wedge of the ice in the direction she thought Twilight Sparkle would be, all the while cloaking her work in an illusion. Finding herself lucky, she fired off her own volley of spells and managed to hit Twilight Sparkle with one of them before she could block it.

Right after she hit, Trixie sealed up her fort again and melted her way back out into Twilight Sparkle's freezing wind. As she galloped out, nine other Trixie's came out of tunnels of their own. Every one shivered just like the real one.

Unexpectedly, Twilight Sparkle flooded the stage with a massive water summon, sweeping away herself and each of the Trixies.

_Ha! As if you could fool my illusions like– oh buck!_

Twilight Sparkle lobbed a few hundred compressed chunks of dirt she had collected from outside the stage into the general area of the Trixies.

Finding it difficult to run against the wind, Trixie opted to call forth a large amount of dirt herself and take cover beneath a protective shell of it.

Within a fraction of a second, several thuds came from the outside of her shell and one dent gently tapped Trixie on the head.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Trixie compressed her shielding into tiny dense balls and fired them at just below piercing velocity in every direction but towards the crowd.

Hearing a satisfying yelp from behind her and to the right, Trixie jumped out of her shell as it parted for her and fired off a pair of strike spells at Twilight Sparkle, hitting with one of them.

Sluggishly dodging a boulder falling from above, Trixie laughed nervously out of Twilight Sparkle's sight, making sure to shield herself from another blind shot from above.

About to jump out for a victory blow, Trixie slipped on the floor which was covered in sheet of ice. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Twilight Sparkle sliding sideways on the ice much faster than a gallop. From the look of her mane, she was using the wind to push her along.

The duelists locked eyes for a moment before Twilight Sparkle fired off one shot.

Surprised by her lack of energy, Trixie shaped some of the nearby earth into a shield to block while she struggled to her hooves.

And yet, Twilight Sparkle gently curved around, still sliding on her hooves and facing directly towards Trixie.

Once more shaping the earth to block, Trixie found herself struggling against Twilight Sparkle's magic directly for control of the earth and made a lucky decision to forgo the contest, falling to her hooves and dodging what would have been a victory blow.

Her legs spread in an x, Trixie awkwardly tried to make it to her hooves but found she did not have the strength. They felt numb somehow. Even her horn felt dull and unresponsive.

Twilight Sparkle came to a stop directly in Trixie's line of sight and cleared away the earth obstructing the view between them.

"Oh dear. What have we here? I did not really think you would not notice what I was doing."

Her teeth chattering, Trixie asked, "W-W-What a-are y-you t-t-talking ab-bout?"

"Cold, Trixie. It is the silent killer."

With that taunt, Twilight Sparkle lazily fired off her last strike spell and hit Trixie right between the eyes.

Her victory complete, Twilight Sparkle canceled all of the ongoing magical effects on the stage, replaced the earth they had used, and repaired the stage. Next she turned her attention elsewhere. Probably to herself, but Trixie could not tell at the moment.

All the while, the crowd was silent, still staring in wonder even after the over-the-top duel had ended. It was only after Twilight Sparkle healed Trixie and stood her on her hooves that the cheers and whistling began. Cries of "Encore" and "Bravo" came continuously.

Trixie was struck dumb.

_I lost._

Her head hung low.

_I lost on my own stage._

She grit her teeth.

_To Twilight Sparkle of all ponies!_

Trixie was about to teleport away when Twilight Sparkle put a hoof on her shoulder. Suddenly, Trixie's hearing improved remarkably and she could pick out cries of her own name mixed in with the other shouting.

"It is your show, Trixie. Instead of running away to pout, why not take a bow? As for myself, I shall be taking my leave. Hopefully next time you shall allow me to watch you perform from the audience."

Twilight Sparkle disappeared in a signatureless teleport, leaving Trixie alone on stage. Looking out at the crowd and taking it all in, there was no loss of enthusiasm with the archmage gone.

_I still lost. I don't know what I can say now…_

Trixie stared out at the crowd a moment longer. Awkwardly, she did the only thing that came to mind. She took a bow.

* * *

_That was actually pretty fun._

Twilight sat on a chair she had conjured outside Rarity's shop. It had taken very little effort to find the place.

_Almost makes me regret ignoring her when she was…doing whatever. Almost._

Off in the distance, Twilight could hear Sweetie Belle say, "See, I told you she would be here."

Looking up, Twilight saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle approaching. Instead of teleporting them directly to her, she waited patiently for them to approach.

"Hello, archmage," Rarity greeted. "What can we do for you?"

"I've been meaning to get a more comfortable set of regalia, and I've heard that you do good work."

"Well, not to brag, but I do consider myself quite skilled." Unlocking her front door, Rarity invited Twilight inside.

Inside Rarity's shop and home, the Carousel Boutique, was a circular first floor with a few changing rooms, at least a dozen ponniquins modeling a dress, several mirrors, a rack with even more dresses on it, miscellaneous odds and ends scattered about, and at the very back a staircase leading to the second floor.

Interrupting Sweetie Belle's extra dramatized recounting of Twilight's duel, Rarity requested, "Sweetie Belle, could you leave us alone for a while?"

Sweetie Belle gave her sister a look of betrayal.

"You can come back in ten minutes, if Archmage Twilight does not mind."

With a nod, Twilight agreed, "That's fine."

"But first we need to take her measurements. And I am sure you remember the last time you were around for that."

"Rarityyyyy," whined Sweetie Belle, "that is not fair."

With a stern look that said she would brook no further discussion, Rarity sent her sister upstairs. Every other step, Sweetie Belle would look back pleadingly until she was out of sight.

Once she heard the sound of Sweetie Belle's door closing, Rarity asked, "So, what brings you here, archmage? I am still thinking about your offer, although I must admit I am leaning towards accepting."

"Well," Twilight began, tapping the side of her jaw, "I _do_ need new regalia and I have no objections to letting you make it, so long as it's both comfortable and functional."

"Really?" Rarity said excitedly.

"Yes, but I also need to talk to your parents, preferably with you present since you know my disguise."

"Oh dear. That sounds unpleasant. Did Sweetie Belle do something?"

"Sort of, but that can wait until the three of you are in one room. For now, you do need to take my measurements, right?"

"Of course, I can do that in a heartbeat." Rarity picked up her sketchbook from a table along with a quill and a measuring tape and then continued, "If you would step up on this dais." Rarity gestured towards her three way mirror.

After Twilight had stepped up onto platform in front of the mirrors, Rarity began taking measurements with the speed and precision of an expert seamstress.

"In regards to your earlier request, I am currently acting as Sweetie Belle's guardian. I certainly hope you have not heard this from anypony, but my parents like to travel abroad quite frequently, leaving Sweetie Belle with me at least three quarters of the year."

"I see. Well, that makes things easier for me then."

"Before I forget, thank you for teaching Sweetie Belle that flame sending spell. It made her really happy."

"That's good to know."

"But I feel obligated to inform you that she has been in contact with Spykoran and Princess Star Charmer."

Twilight sighed as she said, "I expected as much honestly. That's not what I need to talk to you about though, so don't wor–"

From upstairs, Sweetie Belle emitted a high-pitched shriek.

Rarity had already bolted towards the stairs when Twilight called for her to stop.

"But–"

"She's fine. And definitely does not want company right now."

Looking between Twilight and the staircase, Rarity asked, "What do you mean?"

"I may have played a bit of a prank on her when she barged in on my lunch with Berry Punch. She just discovered it."

Rarity was giving Twilight the same stern glare she had used to chase off her sister earlier.

"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just messed with the element she took from me while I was in the hospital and she's very confused right now."

"Sweetie Belle stole from you!"

"There were extenuating circumstances. Just calm down and I'll explain."

Waiting for Rarity to settle down enough to continue her work, Twilight said, "As a side note, do you know any languages that Sweetie Belle does not?"

"A few, yes. But how is that–"

"I _highly_ recommend that you make a habit of thinking in one of them around Sweetie Belle from now on."

"What? Why?"

"Well, Sweetie Belle now finds herself in possession of a necklace that allows her to read minds."

The tape around Twilight's barrel went a bit past snug.

"Sweetie… The crusaders have a mind reading necklace? I– I can not tell you how disastrous that is."

"That thought _had_ crossed my mind, but there's nothing I can do about it. The necklace is known as The Element of Generosity and it bonds with a pony until death. She can take it off, but she won't want to. And I mean _really_ won't want to. I've left my element in the care of Celestia and I'm always a bit irritated without it."

Softly laughing for a moment, Twilight continued, "Although, now that I think about it, I'm constantly irritated with my job so I'm pretty used to dealing with it.

"Anyways, besides mine and Sweetie Belle's, there are four other elements. One is around the neck of Lyra Heartstrings. Another one is currently missing. And I have two left that I need to find bearers for."

"I see…" Rarity paused in her work as she asked her next question, "And…why exactly do you need these bearers?"

"We need to use the elements to defeat an ancient evil goddess named Nightmare Moon."

Sighing, Rarity asked, "You are not asking permission, are you?"

"Not for this, no. I'm just informing you of the situation."

"For this?" One of Rarity's eyebrows rose.

"The elements run off of friendship-like relationships between bearers. Fortunately, I think I have a soft spot for Sweetie Belle, unlike Lyra Heartstrings and…well…pretty much everypony else. Consequently, we all need to bond and the limiting relationships are almost certainly going to be with me.

"That said, I probably would have made this offer even if Sweetie Belle didn't awaken Generosity. I'd like to do for her what Celestia did for me."

Twilight gagged as the tape currently around the base of her neck tightened and released.

"…You want to make her your apprentice?" asked Rarity with a weak voice.

"More or less. I don't know how well it will work out in the long run, but I'd like to try at least. If she accepts the offer and you have no objections."

"No!" Rarity shouted before regaining her normal tone. "Ehem. No, I have no objections. I have been trying to convince mother and father to allow me to enroll Sweetie Belle in Princess Celestia's school ever since she turned eight, but they keep saying no. There is no way I would let them interfere with this."

Twilight stepped down as Rarity finished her last measurement and asked, "They've been saying no? Any particular reason?"

"Pathetically enough, they do not want her to be on her own. Honestly," Rarity huffed. "It is not like they are ever around for her as it is."

Sighing, Rarity continued, "But I suppose they could also be worried that she shall get herself expelled. She does not exactly have a good reputation in Ponyville."

"That's possible," Twilight said, pulling up a chair. "Although, it has a very low rate of expulsion. As far as I know, the only two cases in recent memory have been Trixie and, long before her, Sunset Shimmer.

"Though, being honest, I probably would have gotten myself expelled for one reason or another if I ended up there. Heh. I never did graduate from magic kindergarten."

Looking up from her sketches, Rarity eyed Twilight disbelievingly.

"It's not really a story I want to recount."

Moving her forehooves from right to left, Twilight said, "But putting that aside, there's the obvious solution to the first objection."

"I know. That was actually one of the major reasons why I was leaning towards accepting your offer of employment. I suppose it is less important now."

"Well, she'd still be alone in a family sense at the castle for a few years. She doesn't yet have the strength to make teleporting to Ponyville an afternoon affair.

"Although, both Spike and Star Charmer would be there so, unlike myself, she would have friends her age around. Regardless, I know that having my brother watching over me was a big help, even if I wouldn't have admitted it at the time. We could move you into the castle even if you didn't accept the job."

"I would not want to impose."

With a vigorous wave of her hoof, Twilight responded, "It's no trouble at all. All the rooms we could give Sweetie Belle are enormous, so there'd be more than enough room for you too."

"Hmm… I would miss Ponyville, but I shall likely accept that offer, if not the other."

Floating over her sketches towards Twilight, Rarity asked, "What do you think of these ideas so far?"

Twilight took the notebook and flipped through the pages impressed.

"Did you come up with all of these just now?"

"If only I were that talented. I have been mulling over ideas ever since I saw you wearing that tiara."

"That's The Element of Magic. Which reminds me that I still need to tell everypony that saw it not to talk about it. I see you made a point to include it in every sketch."

"I assumed you would be wearing it quite often, considering what you said about The Element of Generosity, so I put my ideas lacking it on hold."

Twilight nodded and took a closer look at some of the more interesting designs.

"Thoughts?" Rarity asked, the eagerness in her voice coming through despite her attempt to appear professional.

"They're all quite good. Perhaps a bit too…what's the word…froufrou for my tastes, but I have no outright objections."

"Any one you particularly like?"

"Anything with sleeves instead of a skirt is fine, but I do prefer this one that splits at the back to let my tail out. I always feel cramped with it pressed against my legs."

"I see…"

"Something wrong with it?"

"No… I can make it work." Rarity folded her forelegs and nodded to herself. "Yes, I should be able to make that work. The problem is that style has a high exposure of your coat and – no offense – but your lavender color clashes horribly with the colors of your tiara. It looks much better on you as Index."

"I can always place an illusion on it to change its appearance, although I am not willing to try modifying it's structure or atomic composition. At least not until I figure out how it works, which could take hundreds of years.

"Hundreds of years?"

"The spell I use to disguise myself can also be used to prolong life until the subject's magic crumbles. Celestia estimated that will happen to me in three hundred years or so. And before you ask, there are massive logistical problems with making it a standard part of life. And for most ponies it would only make a couple decades of difference."

Nonchalantly, Rarity said, "An evil goddess. Taking Sweetie Belle on as your student. Magical jewelry. Considering everything else I have heard from you, what is a little life extension added to the top of it?"

Laughing with Rarity, Twilight replied, "I suppose so."

"Anyway, if you can change your tiara's color to silver, then I have a lot more leeway to design something magnificent."

"Yeah, sure. Which reminds me, Celestia was interested in something new too."

"Truly?" Rarity shouted, once more losing control of her volume. Bringing herself back down to an indoor voice, she continued, "I would positively love to make something for her as well."

"I'll send her a letter to stop by sometime. Any particular time you would prefer?"

"Anytime would be perfect. I can not ask Princess Celestia to work to my schedule."

"Alright, I'll let you know when she intends to come."

Twilight turned her head towards the staircase to see Sweetie Belle timidly walking down with her saddlebags as bulgy as before. Rarity soon followed Twilight's gaze and saw her sister as well.

"You do not have to sneak down, Sweetie Belle," Rarity said. "We have finished taking measurements."

Still nervously approaching, Sweetie Belle quietly asked, "Um… Archmage Twilight… Could– Could you help me with something?"

"Perhaps," Twilight said, giving back Rarity's sketchbook, "so long as you don't need me to find something. I'm not omniscient."

"I…err…do not really know."

Sweetie Belle set her saddlebags down, unbuttoned them, and pulled out the metal sphere Twilight had conjured and Generosity.

"When I left home this morning, I had a stone sphere…thing. And at some point during the day it disappeared and these two things were left behind. It is _really_ important that I get it back."

Twilight levitated Generosity and saw Sweetie Belle twitch as it moved away from her. Pretending to examine it for a moment, Twilight placed it back down and removed the metal sphere from existence.

Startled, Sweetie Belle jumped back. "No! I can't lose anymore! Index is going to hate meeeee!"

Rarity gave Twilight a disapproving glare out of Sweetie Belle's sight.

With a small sigh, Twilight tried her best to reproduce the cadence that made Celestia so warm and lovable. "Sweetie Belle, the metal shell was just trash. The necklace is the important part. I would assume that the stone sphere had a similar looking one inside it, right?"

After a weak nod from a tearing Sweetie Belle, Twilight continued, "You should ask Index for more information. She's not going to be mad at you."

"…If you s-say so. Do you know where she is? Or can you f-find her?"

"No, you'll have to do that on your own. Tracking magic needs a magical signature of some kind to look for, otherwise it comes down to brute force. I'm not in the mood to scry everywhere in Ponyville, let alone how illegal that is." _And how unsuccessful I would be._

"O-Okay. Thank you anyway."

Sweetie Belle silently trudged towards the front door as if she were marching to her death. With a sigh, she opened the door and left.

"Oh dear," Rarity said levelly. "She left while you were still here. She must be feeling _really_ bad."

Twilight did not have to look at Rarity to tell that she was upset with her guest.

"I didn't think such a little prank would make her feel _that_ guilty," defended Twilight. Once more turning herself into Index, Twilight braided her hair as she continued, "I'll talk to her soon. Just after I finish a slew of annoying tasks around town."

"The sooner the better. She may have stolen from you, but she does not deserve to suffer so."

Just before teleporting, Twilight said, "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'll be seeing you later."


	8. Chapter Seven-A Day in Ponyville-Part 2

"_Where is…"_

* * *

Index appeared in the midst of Pinkie Pie's room. She really was not in the mood to track down the huge list of ponies that had seen Magic just to tell them to keep quiet and fully intended to pass the task off onto the pony that actually liked socializing. Unfortunately, the mare in question was nowhere to be found.

_You know, I really thought she'd just be here when I showed up. I guess either her precognition or her manners need work._

Index was about to teleport out – since the Cakes would be _very_ surprised to see her come downstairs – when she saw a pink sheet of paper sitting on Pinkie Pie's dresser.

_How… No, don't question this one._

The pink paper was folded into a remarkable likeness of Pinkie Pie on roughly a one to thirty scale. There were even little googly eyes glued to the face and a speech bubble popping out that said 'To Index' in white crayon.

Grabbing the eyesore and unfolding it, Index read the contents.

_Totally took Kindness while you were asleep. Super sorry. At Fluttershy's._

Index incinerated the letter and, for good measure, threw the ashes onto the carpeting and stomped on them with her hoof and then rubbed it in as hard as she could, all the while grinding her teeth together in slow, cringe-inducing screeches.

_No! No! No! No! No!_

_That's the absolute worst element you could have picked! It better be for Fluttershy and not for you!_

Index teleported straight back to the Carousel Boutique and startled Rarity nearly off of her workbench.

In a low, seething voice, Index said, "I need directions to Fluttershy's house."

Recovering herself and collecting her dropped sketchbook, Rarity scolded, "You do not need anything of the sort like that. You will not see hide nor hair of her if you go storming in ready for a fight. What happened in the last three minutes?"

"Pinkie Pie took Kindness."

"Is that the missing element?"

"Yes," Index clarified.

"So is Pinkie–"

"I don't know! I certainly hope not!"

Tilting her head to the side, Rarity asked, "Correct me if I am wrong, but would it not be a fantastic turn of fortune if she were the bearer?"

"There's nothing fantastic about giving _any_ additional powers to that– that– thing! Especially Kindness."

Rarity frowned and hummed disapprovingly. "I know she can be a bit…trying, but that is no excuse to call her a thing. Besides, you said the elements are powered by friendship. There is no pony friendlier than Pinkie Pie."

Going wide-eyed momentarily, Index chewed on that thought. Then, still upset but less fuming, she grumbled, "A fair point. Can I get directions now?"

"Only if you promise to calm down before you go there."

"I promise," Index said, waiting expectantly in a staring contest with Rarity. Rolling her eyes, she revised, "I _Pinkie_ Promise. Happy?"

"You did not do the gestures, but yes. Fluttershy lives on the edge of the Everfree, just outside the reach of the forest. If you follow the road just outside due south and take the first right turn, her home is a quarter kilometer forward."

Following along with a scrying spell, Index found a large, moss-covered house on a hill just over a creek with a bridge leading to it. From a brief inspection, there were hundreds of large animals gathered there and at least as many bird houses.

"Wow, that's a lot of animals."

"That sounds about right for a first reaction. Are you using that, uh, scrying spell you were talking about?"

Index shook her head absentmindedly as she looked about the grounds for any sign of ponies, having had no luck inside the house which somehow had boasted even more animals inside it.

"Ah ha! Found them! And Fluttershy's wearing Kindness! Whew. See ya."

Index teleported straight to the bridge just outside Fluttershy's home, well within the influence of Kindness and outside the Everfree's. It would have been easier to just teleport to the pair, but after hearing several times just how shy this Fluttershy was, Index was willing to arrive normally.

Just as she rounded the corner of the building and was about to call out a greeting, Index was glomped by Pinkie Pie in another surprise hug attack.

"Oh my gosh, Index! Long time no see! For you I mean! Not for me! How are you feeling! Those hospital beds didn't look very comfy and I tried one and it was totally terrible but at least you got some sleep for once! Even if it was feverish sleep! But fever dreams can be pretty cool! Oh, and sorry again for taking Kindness without asking, but it was just sitting there when I came in on top of a whooooole bunch of other stuff and I figured you wouldn't mind anyways so I just went ahead and snuck it out before the nurses or anypony else noticed your stuff!"

Breathing deeply, but without the supportive gesture of the Royal Breathing Exercises due to a Pinkie Pie shaped clamp on her legs, Index pried the appendage off of her. After setting Pinkie Pie on all four hooves a meter away, she took a step back still unsatisfied with the distance she had created between them.

"Pinkie. Remember that talk we had about tangents?"

"Oh, right. Sorry for that too. I can be so forgetful–"

Index sealed Pinkie Pie's mouth shut before she could start on some story about her forgetfulness.

"Anyway, I need to talk to Fluttershy, as I'm sure you can imagine. Have you told her what you know yet?"

Pinkie Pie vigorously nodded her head.

"Good. That will help speed things along. Now if you would be so kind as to introduce me to this super shy pony without obliterating my personal space…"

Letting go of her hold on Pinkie Pie, Index followed her into the backyard towards where she and Fluttershy had been moments earlier.

Skipping ahead, Pinkie Pie ran into Fluttershy first on the other side of a barn-like structure.

"Pinkie," said what was presumably Fluttershy in a diminutive voice, "I know you really wanted me to get this to work, but it's just not happening. I'm so sorry, but I don't think I'm cut out for it. Even if it is a _really nice_ necklace."

"Nonsense! My friend Index is right behind me and she'll get you all polished and ready in two shakes of your tail."

"A-A-A n-new p-pony," Fluttershy quavered, causing Index to stop just before she was about to turn the corner. "I d-don't know…"

"It'll be great, Fluttershy! She's even less social than you, though she's not shy at all. She's more of an ice" – Index swore that Pinkie Pie's words were nudging her somehow – "queen than anything else."

"B-But a-aren't ice q-queens m-m-mean and nasty?" Fluttershy asked, each word fainter than the last.

"Some of them are real meanie heads, but Index isn't! If she were then she'd already be out here instead of patiently waiting just around the corner."

"Eep!"

Peering around the corner, Index saw Fluttershy comically trying to run away while a much stronger Pinkie Pie held her by her tail with a firm bite. Somehow, Fluttershy was managing not to slip or fall while her hooves futilely dug at the ground, throwing dirt all over herself and Pinkie Pie. Her wings were having no more luck as they tried to take both of them airborne, instead serving only to send an unfair amount of the dirt her way.

_I wonder if this is how Pinkie Pie managed to introduce herself the first time. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it were._

When Fluttershy had sufficiently changed her coat from light yellow to brown, or simply had grown tired, she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and covered in sweat.

Releasing her grip, Pinkie Pie asked in her usual bubbly voice, "So, Fluttershy, are you ready to meet Index?"

Underneath her hooves, Fluttershy shook her head in small, dispirited movements.

Ignoring the antics of those two, Index turned her attention to a small piece of paper that crackled into existence next to her.

Reading the text, it read, _Dear Index, I need to talk to you. And I am reeeeeeeally sorry. Sweetie Belle._

Hastily scrawling an answer on some summoned parchment, Index wrote, _Sweetie Belle, I'm currently out at Fluttershy's with Pinkie Pie if you want to head out there. Otherwise, I'll be heading over to Lyra Heartstrings's afterward. I'm guessing you took one of my stone spheres. If so, I completely understand why and I'm not at all mad. I do need to talk to you about it soon though. Index._

Sending off her response, Index returned her attention to the two mares around the corner only to find Pinkie Pie in her face.

"Ah!" Index shouted as she jumped backward and shoved Pinkie Pie away. "Don't do that!"

"Oh, muffins! You spooked Fluttershy. And just after I finally got her to prepare herself to meet you." As Pinkie Pie disappeared in a blur, her voice shouted, "I'll be right back!"

Around the corner, Index saw that Pinkie Pie had effectively tackled Fluttershy to the ground and was merrily dragging her back by the tail. Somehow she was whistling along the way despite having her mouth otherwise occupied.

When they returned, Pinkie Pie waved Index over. Pinkie Pie had dropped Fluttershy on the ground with her forehooves held tightly over her eyes as she shivered and tried to camouflage her mud covered body into the ground.

…_Maybe I would have been better with Pinkie Pie after all. Sigh…_

Index turned to Pinkie Pie and tried to ask with just her facial expressions if she should say anything. Pinkie Pie must have gotten the message, because she nodded once with great enthusiasm.

"Hello–"

"Eep!"

"–Fluttershy…" _I don't have time for this… _"Pinkie, what's Fluttershy's favorite species of animal?"

"Bunnies, silly. What else could it possibly be?"

With a nod, Index turned herself into a tiny, light-yellow coated bunny with a small protruding horn on her forehead.

Gasping for only a minorly ridiculous length, Pinkie Pie scooped Index up in a tight hug and shouted, "Eee! Oh my gosh! You're so cute! But what's with the horn? Do you need to keep that to do magic or something? Cause that would really be lame if you got stuck as a bunny without it. But maybe it'd be pretty cool too. Could you make me a bunny too?"

At the first use of the word bunny, Fluttershy peeked through a minuscule gap between her hooves and saw Pinkie Pie squeezing the air out of Index.

Grabbing Index from Pinkie Pie's grasp with more speed and ferocity than the earth pony had yet displayed, she shouted, "What do you think you're doing! You're crushing this poor little bunny!"

"Thank you," Index said in-between coughs.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy shouted in her regular soft whisper. "You can talk!"

"Yes, I'm Index. Normally a very busy pony."

"What?" Fluttershy held Index out at leg's length, but did not let go or otherwise run away.

"Just what I said. I figured that this would make it easier for you to talk to me, considering the number of other animals you keep here."

"Oh, um…I suppose so. I'm terribly sorry for how I acted before, but I'm awfully bad with ponies."

"It's fine. I guess. Now would you put me down?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Once Fluttershy had replaced Index on the ground, Index turned to Pinkie Pie and said, "To answer your questions, my teacher taught me to use magic without my horn, but it's a huge pain and a lot easier to just keep one around. Even if I couldn't, the spell would wear off eventually.

"As for making you a bunny, not going to happen. Though, I might think about it if you were to do something for me."

Pinkie Pie saluted and stood rigidly at attention, saying, "I am at your beck and call mistress."

"…Right. Anyway, I have a list of ponies that saw Magic. I need you to tell all of them that it's classified information and not to talk about it. Check if any of them have already mentioned it to anypony else, and if so then add those ponies to the list. Got it?"

"No problemo, Index. I'll have it all done before you can count to seven-thousand and sixty-eight."

"…Okay," said Index, eyebrow raised. She then gave the full list of ponies that needed a talking to, minus the ones like Nurse Redheart that have already received the message and the ones that are supposed to know like Lyra Heartstrings.

Within a blink, Pinkie was gone.

"I really hope I don't regret giving her that job," Index said, rubbing her eyes with her furry paws.

Gently petting Index on the head, Fluttershy said, "It'll be alright, Pinkie Pie is really trustworthy, even if she's really pushy."

Seeing the cold glare Index was giving her, Fluttershy removed her hoof from Index.

"Oh, I'm so sorry again. I just… My special talent is with animals, and you looked like you needed some spoiling."

"I probably do," sighed Index. "You on the other hoof" – Index pointed with her paw at Fluttershy – "or paw in this case, are the one that obviously needs some pampering."

Blushing, Fluttershy whispered even quieter than her normal voice, "I suppose so. Sorry I'm such a mess."

"I can take care of that for you in a second. If you want. I know that some ponies are pretty touchy about letting other ponies's magic on them, myself included."

"Um, if you don't mind, I'd prefer to wash up myself. If it's okay with you."

"Yes, yes, that's fine. After you're done, I need to give you an infodump about The Elements of Harmony – Kindness in particular – and what they are used for."

* * *

Three knocks came at the door and then Derpy called out, "Hey, Dash! I've got some mail for you!"

From her dinning room, Dash lowered the cloud holding her fork and delayed her already delayed lunch even further.

"Go ahead and start without me, Squirt," Dash said to Scootaloo. "And remember, no using your wings."

Pouting, Scootaloo replied, "I wasn't going to."

With a quick sigh, Dash rose and flew downstairs to her front door in ten seconds flat: a rather lazy time for her. Opening it, she was greeted by her usual cross-eyed mailmare.

"You know, I have a mailbox for a reason, Derpy."

Digging around in her mailbag, Derpy responded, "I know, but my boss said I have to make sure you one-hundred percent get your mail today. No excuses."

Frustrated, Derpy moved her mailbag from her side to her front and buried her head inside of it.

"So what's so special about my mail today? I always get it eventually."

"No idea," came Derpy's muffled answer. "You've got three things though, I know that. Ah ha! Found the first one."

Derpy pulled out a flyer in her mouth and passed it off to Dash who took it in a cloud. Before she could even take a glance at it, Derpy found another letter and mouthed it over as well.

_This is the Wonderbolts's seal…again. Sigh…_

"Ah! Last one! Oh, I see now. Yeah, this is pretty important."

Curious, Dash turned her attention away from opening the letter from Captain Spitfire and back to Derpy, only to lose her breath when she saw the seal on the last letter.

"That– That's the royal seal! Why am I getting a letter from royalty?"

"It's a mystery," Derpy said, shrugging. "I don't read your mail, I just deliver it. Speaking of which, I gotta fly."

"Uh, yeah. See ya later."

Derpy jumped off of Dash's cloud lawn and, with her typical awkward flaps, flew back towards Ponyville while weaving a path that still made Dash nauseous just thinking about flying it herself.

Closing the door and retreating back inside, Dash started with the simplest mail which would – hopefully – be the least shocking. The flyer had a trio of pegasii in a dead heat drawn to appear to be flying out of the page. Behind them was a map of all of Equestria with a dotted line traveling across the entire country and off into the ocean.

_A race across Equestria? Five days long. Vice-captain Soarin will be participating! _"Oh! My! Gosh! This is. So! Awesome!"

Just as she took to the air, about to expend her extra energy in fast circles, Dash remembered the other two letters and sobered instantly; letters from Captain Spitfire were never pleasant to read, and that royal one was suspicious. Even more so with both of them coming on the same day.

_I suppose I should start with Captain Spitfire's._

As soon as she had removed the contents of Captain Spitfire's letter, Scootaloo came down the stairs.

"What is is that's so awesome?"

"Huh? Oh, I left it on the table over there. Take a look, but try to keep it down while I read the rest of my mail."

Turning her attention back to the letter held out before her and hiding the Wonderbolts's seal, Dash barely got past _Rainbow Dash_ before Scootaloo started jumping around in excitement.

"Hey, Squirt. I know it's exciting, but try to keep it contained for now."

"Ah, sorry, Dash. I'll keep quiet."

For the third time, Dash went back to her letter.

_Rainbow Dash, you're doomed–_

"Wait, what?" Dash mumbled.

_If you had taken one of our offers, we might have been able to save you. We still might be able to if you jump on immediately, otherwise I wish you the best of luck with your future struggle._

_As for what that is, I have all but been told to get my hooves off of you, so I will just be giving you a warning. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has her sights set on you, and she can get…a bit…obsessive about her pet projects. But you did not hear that from me._

_Try not to make things too bad for yourself, foal._

_Captain Spitfire._

Dash put down Captain Spitfire's letter and eyed the royal one suspiciously.

_That was not at all what I expected._

While Scootaloo was not looking, Dash buried the letter and envelope deep within a nearby garbage can. Next she turned her attention to the remaining, foreboding letter. As she opened it and took out the thick bundle of parchment, a smaller piece of paper fell to the floor.

_Is that a train ticket?_

Building a slight electrical charge on her hoof, Dash picked up the scrap and found that it was indeed a train ticket. Good for tomorrow for a ride to Canterlot in the royal compartment no less.

Now with a cold sweat in anticipation, Dash started reading the letter.

_Dear Rainbow Dash,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and in good humor. There are going to be a lot of big changes coming to Equestria in the coming season, and we would like you to be a part of one of them. Particularly, a restructuring of the pegasus school system._

_I am sure you of all pegasii know it is very possible for any pegasus to learn from every branch of our magic system, even if their special talent has nothing to do with any kind of magic. This is in stark contrast to unicorns who must struggle to learn spells outside of their field of specialty (if they even have one)._

_Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, pegasus education has always been modeled around unicorn education. We recently noticed this problem when discussing the curriculum for a new school we are planning, and that is where we want you to come it._

_We have already started construction on the grounds for a pegasus analog to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns – which may or may not be named after myself – and we plan to experiment there for a decade or so before we start messing with the nation's school system. We want you on board as both a teacher and as a developer of the curriculum._

"What! But that's egghead stuff!"

"What's egghead stuff?" Scootaloo asked.

"Erm… It's nothing, Squirt. Just overreacting to this letter."

"What's it about?"

"Um… I think I should probably finish it before I say anything."

_You plan on resisting – Go to page three_

_You plan on accepting – Go to page two_

Muttering under her breath, Dash said, "What is this, a _Choose Your Own Adventure Letter_? And what's with that vocab choice? Resisting…"

Dash turned to page three and continued reading.

_The walls close in around you. It is not long before you run out of air. You die._

Dash gaped at the page, but kept reading as there was still more to come.

_Just joking! I bet your first reaction was 'Is this a _Choose Your Own Adventure Letter' _or something along that line._

_That's right. I know your secret. You are an 'egghead'._

"No! That's not true!" Seeing Scootaloo out of the corner of her eye, Dash said, "Ehem… Just… Um… Just… I don't even know how to lie my way out of this. Just be patient with me, Squirt."

_I know all about what you do in your free time: reading. But do not be ashamed, some of the most interesting and powerful ponies in the world absolutely adore reading. Ponies like Archmage Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Prince Consort (tee-hee, that still cracks me up) Shining Armor, Silver Bells, Captain Spitfire, Commander Dusk, et cetera. Even I am primarily an author, though that is sort of the opposite of reading._

_Of course, I am sure none of your friends would care if they found out. They might even like you more. But you have not kept it secret so long without wanting to keep it that way, now have you?_

_You plan on accepting – Go to page two_

_You plan to delay the inevitable – Go to page four_

Dash gulped as she turned the page over to the fourth one.

_I can not say I did not expect you to wind up here. From what my agents tell me, you have a couple of reasons for staying in Ponyville. Reasons known by the names of Scootaloo and Fluttershy._

_After some digging around, we found out that your almost daughter is rather talented and we are going to offer her a place at our school no matter what your choice is. Technically, we do not need her permission to enroll her, her being a ward of the state, but we like to think of ourselves as nice ponies so we will anyway._

_And while I was chatting with Princess Celestia, I heard a very juicy piece of gossip about a certain filly friend of Scootaloo's that will likely make the idea of moving to Canterlot very appealing. Just putting that out there without saying too much._

_As for Fluttershy, there is a surprising lack of ponies with talent in animal care. The royal menagerie's current caretaker, Greenhooves, is getting on in years and is looking to take on an apprentice to take his place when he retires._

_From the look of things, he is all but set on calling upon Fluttershy. I may have pushed him to decide faster but, other than that, my hooves are clean of this; Fluttershy attracted his attention completely on her own. And naturally, she would be allowed to bring all of her current animal friends with her._

_You have come to understand that resistance is futile – Go to page two_

_Something is wrong with your brain – Go to page five_

Taking a hesitant peek at page five, Dash read, _You know, you are a government employee and I am a princess. I can transfer you anywhere I want and your only options are to quit, to comply, or to hope that with enough groveling in open court, Princess Celestia overrules my decision._

_Do you really want to test how nice I–_

"Okay, that's enough of that," Dash said, turning back to page two.

_Excellent choice! I have enclosed a ticket to Canterlot for the next day. You will have a private car so you can bring anypony you like with you should you wish for company. When you arrive, just give your name to the guards at the main gate of the castle and they will escort you to where you need to go._

_I will not keep you long this early in the project. Mostly, I just want to have a chance to talk to you about it in more detail and to get to know you better as well. You are the last pony I have to interview (although I have already heard a lot of good things about you) before I get the list of important staff finalized._

_We could squeeze this visit into a single day if we must, but otherwise we will have a guest suite prepared for you for the night._

_See you tomorrow, Princess Cadance._

Rubbing her forehead with the tips of both of her wings, Dash flipped to the very back of the letter and went straight for the very bottom. There was only one choice, reading only, _Go to page two._

"I see, so I don't really have a choice when it comes right down to it."

Once Dash put the letter down, Scootaloo asked, "Don't have a choice in what?"

"I've just been drafted."

"Into the army? I thought they haven't done that for centuries."

"No, Squirt, not into the army," Dash answered, rubbing Scootaloo's head. "Though, I see Cheerilee's been teaching you well."

Scootaloo blushed and turned away, kicking at air with her forehoof. "We just had a history test at the end of the term is all."

"It's cool, Squirt. Knowledge is power and all that."

Looking up and more than a little confused, Scootaloo went, "Huh?"

"I've been drafted into teaching, so I might as well start playing the part."

"They can't do that to you! It's not fair!"

"No, they can't absolutely force me to, but I've been told pretty clearly that I don't really have any good reason to object. Besides, I'm already playing at teaching with you. It won't be that bad."

Scootaloo's eyes opened wide as she gasped. "Does this mean that you're going away?"

"From Ponyville, yes. From you, not necessarily."

"What do you mean?"

_Oh, Celestia. I hope she doesn't think that meant I was going to adopt her. I'm totally not ready for a foal._

"This letter said that you're going to be invited to the school I'll be teaching at in Canterlot, if you want to come."

"Of course I do! Ponyville would be so boring without you."

"What about the crusaders? Won't you miss them."

"Well… Yeah… But, Sweetie has this super cool new spell that lets her send letters to our new pen pals in Canterlot and they can send letters right back. It's not exactly the same, but it'll be something."

"Huh. So, what are these pen pals like?" Dash's stomach let out a huge growl. "Maybe we should get back to lunch while we discuss this."

As they set off back upstairs, Scootaloo bragged, "So, you're not going to believe this. Our pen pals are Spike and Star Charmer, a dragon and a princess."

"Say what now?"

Grinning, Scootaloo repeated, "We're friends with a dragon and a princess."

Dash opened her mouth but no words came out.

"I know! So awesome, right?"

"That, or horrifying. Even I'm scared of what you three will do with the ear of royalty." Sitting back down at her chair in the dinning room, Dash asked, "How did this even happen?"

"Well, it goes back to how Sweetie got her new spell. See, Index needed to send off a secret message but couldn't do it herself due to being hospitalized, so she taught Sweetie the…uh…flame sending spell I think it was. And she taught Sweetie how to send things to two ponies, herself and Spike.

"And the letter Sweetie sent was that Index needed to talk to 'the boss' which we think is the archmage because this boss mare teleported right into the hospital and Spike is the archmage's adopted dragon colt."

"Whoa! Time out. You mean there's actually some proof when you were going on about how Index is a secret agent of some kind this morning before we joined up with the others?"

"Uh-huh," Scootaloo said with a nod. "I suppose I probably should have mentioned that earlier."

"Of course she isn't, sillies," Pinkie said. Both Dash and Scootaloo fell out of their seats in surprise before Pinkie continued, giggling, "But that doesn't mean she's not here in secret."

"Wha? Pinkie? How are you– You're standing on a cloud! In the sky! How did you even–" Then Dash noticed flock of balloons supporting Pinkie's barrel. "No, I don't want to know. Anyways, what did you mean?"

"Just that! She's all secrety, but not agenty. But since I'm on a secret mission for her, I suppose that makes me a secret agent now. That is _so_ neat! I didn't even think about that when I left Fluttershy's. I should probably put on some appropriate clothing when I get a chance, but that might actually attract more attention during the day. Hmm…"

_That reminds me that I need to pick up groceries for Fluttershy after this. _"Pinkie, you said something about being on a mission?"

"Oh right, Dash. Thanks for reminding me! Index says that she doesn't want you talking about her big crown thingy. Although she probably doesn't care if you do after the festival is over, but I forgot to ask anything about that before I left. I'm just being super forgetful today it seems. Although, not as much as that one time when–"

"Okay, Pinkie. Message received. Anything else?"

"Nope! I'll let you two get back to eating now." After rummaging around in her mane for a moment, Pinkie pulled out a paper bag and said, "And have a cupcake to go with your lunch."

After Pinkie had hoofed off the bag, she popped a couple balloons and drifted lazily downward and out of Dash's home.

"So…a secret agent, eh?" _This is perfect counter blackmail material if she tries to tell anypony about the library. …Anypony besides Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I suppose._

* * *

Index lay on Fluttershy's couch back in unicorn form after convincing Fluttershy to put up with it. Being a bunny was less than ideal with predators around, even if they were allegedly tame and could not actually hurt her.

For the last twenty minutes, Index had been both idly reshuffling her priorities since she had the good fortune to have found both Generosity and Kindness so quickly, and watching Sweetie Belle trudge hopelessly across Ponyville. The latter had been rather heartbreaking, even after explicitly telling Sweetie Belle that she was not mad and it was not getting any easier as she approached Fluttershy's home.

_Ugh. I suppose I deserve this. Why is it that _this _prank had to blow up in my face? There's so many other ones that Cadance has dragged me into._

Sighing, Index opened the door for Sweetie Belle just before she knocked, eliciting a small "Eep" from her.

_Okay, maybe that was a bit ominous. I probably should have just opened the door normally._

"I'm in the living room!"

As Sweetie Belle timidly crept around the corner, Index caught the faint sound of something she had completely missed with just a scrying spell.

_Oh, Sweetie. Please stop sniffling. You're just making me feel worse about this._

"I am so, so, soooo, sorryyyyyy," wailed Sweetie Belle.

Index enveloped Sweetie Belle in her magic and brought the filly in for a hug as she sat up. The thought passed through Index's mind that doing so was a mistake as Sweetie Belle burst into full tears.

Making her grip tighter, Index softly said, "It's alright. You've done nothing wrong."

"Y-Yes I haaave! I st-stole from you! And then I b-broke what I t-took."

"It's fine. It's fine. You didn't actually break anything. You just awakened a slumbering magical artifact and had it bond to you forever."

"W-What?"

"Okay, that may have been a bit too much explanation at the moment. Just try to calm down right for now."

After a big sniff, Sweetie Belle asked, "You're r-really not mad?"

"I'm not. I'm actually really glad that you're the one that took it."

"T-Truly?" Sweetie Bell pulled back and looked up at Index with tear matted fur and bloodshot eyes.

"Yes, truly. How many times do I have to say it for you to believe me?"

"A-At least once more."

_Heh, she's worse than Spike._ "I don't hate you. I'm not even ambivalent or neutral. I actively like you. Happy?"

"Almost," accompanied Sweetie Belle to the sound of one last sniff.

Index laughed as she rubbed Sweetie Belle's head. "You're acting awfully spoiled. How does Rarity put up with you?"

"Heh heh. Nopony knows."

"Well, anyway, we'll delay talking about your necklace until Fluttershy gets back so I don't have to repeat myself. Before that, I have a question for you and I want you to promise me you won't just blurt out an answer without thinking about it. Got it?"

"…Yeah."

Index thought it would be harder and more nerve-wracking to ask, but Sweetie Belle's answer seemed like such a sure thing that her question came out with unpracticed ease.

"Do you want to be my student?"

"Oh my gosh, yes!" blurted Sweetie Belle, immediately causing Index to facehoof. "Oh, um…sorry. But just– Just yes!"

"Look, I'm happy that you're excited, but this is going to be a huge life-changing decision for you so make sure you actually think about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for one, I don't live in Ponyville."

"You said that you could teleport. I hear that the princess and the archmage can be anywhere in the world in minutes. Is that not something you can do or can teach me to do?"

"I'm impressed you thought of that so quickly. To put an answer to it, I can, except I've looked up educational records of similar situations – for personal reasons – and things generally turn out subpar. Not disastrous, but not ideal. That and I don't have the time to take on a part-time student."

"I see… So, I would have to leave everypony behind?"

"Not quite. I had a short talk with Rarity. She seems interested in coming with you."

"Really? She would do that for me?"

"There may be additional incentives involved, but it's entirely possible that she would even without them. On another note, I'll probably demand more from you than you can give. I'll have to apologize in advance for that, but I won't ask for any less."

"I can handle that, no problem."

Grinning, Index said, "I like that hubris. But I really do mean what I said. I have a nasty habit of setting my standards beyond reach and my expectations lower than the worst scum in the world." – Index gave Sweetie Belle a meaningful look – "It's always a pleasant surprise when I meet somepony with real promise."

"Ah." Sweetie Belle blushed and fidgeted, still in Index's reach on the couch. "Thank you."

"Also along that line of thought, I must emphasize that I drastically overwork myself and I have no idea how badly I'll saddle you with work."

"You have said that like three times now." Index could hear the faint trace of a pout creeping into Sweetie Belle's voice. "I can manage whatever you give me."

"Alright, alright. I get it. Consider yourself a proper apprentice then."

"Yes!" Sweetie Belle shouted, jumping up and bumping her head on Index's jaw.

"Ow…" both student and teacher moaned.

"Ugh… Allow me to return the favor from before," Index said, horn glowing and relieving the pain from both of them.

"Owie… Thanks for that."

"Not exactly a good way to begin," snarked Index.

"You can say that again."

"Now all we need is for Fluttershy to stop waiting politely out of sight in her own home and we can move on to the main topic."

The mare in question quietly entered the room and whispered, "I'm sorry. You seemed to be having a private conversation," even fainter than the clink of the gold part of Kindness bumping against the balloon-shaped, pink gem attached to it.

"It's okay, Fluttershy. Come join the conversation; we have a lot to talk about."

Leaning over conspiratorially, Index whispered, "Does she always apologize all the time?"

Doing the same, Sweetie Belle answered, "It mostly wears off as you get to know her. How did you even get her this calm around you already?"

"Turned myself into a bunny."

"You can do that?" shouted Sweetie Belle, completely forgetting they were whispering but managing to avoid bumping heads again, if barely.

Index floated Sweetie Belle away from her and set her down a hoof's length on the couch.

"Alright, no more sitting together until you're less excitable."

"Aw…"

Fluttershy giggled and softly apologized before giggling again. Index could only guess that this was the Fluttershy equivalent of out of control laughter.

"So, I need to tell you two about Nightmare Moon and The Elements of Harmony."

"N-Nightmare Moon? Like t-the one from Nightmare Night?"

"Not really, Fluttershy. The real one is…more different. And she certainly isn't looking for candy or foals to eat." – Index paused a moment, confused – "Fluttershy?"

No response came and when Index poked her with magic, she fell over onto the couch, eyes locked open and barely breathing.

"Did she just faint? That's…less than ideal."

"Wait, so Nightmare Moon's real?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Like, really real?"

"Yes" – Index cast a spell to revitalize Fluttershy – "and Nightmare Moon needs to be stopped lest she bring about eternal night. The Elements of Harmony are the only means we have to do so. You are both in the possession of one element. I've left mine in Canterlot. Lyra Heartstrings has another.

"And Fluttershy, I will make this clear right away, the only thing you have to do when it comes time to confront her is stay conscious; I'll do all the real work. Honestly, I don't think you even need to do that, but that particular theory remains untested at the moment. Do you think you can manage that?"

"…No."

"I can manage it," offered Sweetie Belle.

"Yes, I know you can. You and your friends inspire more terror in Ponyville than Nightmare Moon. I have no worries about you."

Beaming, Sweetie Belle asked, "So does Fluttershy wearing hers mean I can put mine on? Because I have had _urges_ ever since I noticed it…awakened?"

"Yes, that's the right verb choice. And I would like you to refrain a bit longer so I can give you my full undivided attention when you do."

"Why?"

"You know, I really like your inquisitive attitude," sighed Index, "but I'm kind of trying to give a pep talk."

"Oh, sorry. Do you want any help?"

"Not re– Actually, you know Fluttershy pretty well, right?" – Sweetie Belle nodded – "Then the floor is yours."

Eagerly jumping from the couch, Sweetie Belle approached a nervous Fluttershy who was curled up in a little ball on a separate couch. She whispered in Fluttershy's ear for no less than a minute so quietly that Index could not hear. With each word, Fluttershy grew more and more furious until she erupted from her seat in a feathery flurry.

"Nopony hurts my friends!" she screamed, eyes twitching, far above her usual volume. Her scowl only grew as she hovered. "How dare she even think about genocide!"

"What did you tell her?"

"I just emphasized what would happened to her animals if it were always night time."

Index pulled her head back, raised an eyebrow, and sat up a little bit straighter. "And that would be?"

"Everypony would freeze to death. Right?"

Ignoring Sweetie Belle's obvious desire to be told if she was right, Index asked, "Did Rarity make you study climatology or meteorology or something?"

"Study what now?"

"We need to work on your science vocab. Basically weather."

"Oh, not really. Although Scootaloo mentions some stuff that she learned from Rainbow Dash once and a while."

"Then how did you know Equus would freeze?"

"Well, the night is cold because the moon gives us no heat. Is it not obvious?"

"No, it is. But you'd be surprised how many obvious things ponies miss. Good work. Anyways" – Index pointed up to where Fluttershy was still yelling with a forehoof – "how long is she going to do that?"

Shrugging, Sweetie Belle answered, "It depends on whether she has an outlet or not. Since it seems like she does not, we probably have a few minutes before she finishes."

"I see…" _You know, the way she makes those circles is kind of mesmerizing. _Shaking her attention back to Sweetie Belle, Index asked, "Do you want some tea?"

"Yeah!"

As Index summoned her usual instruments, Sweetie Belle curiously approached the kettle that she had placed on Fluttershy's coffee table.

Taking a look at the fire beneath it, Sweetie Belle asked, "Why are you not just boiling it right away with magic?"

"Eh, a friend of mine sort of makes a tradition of boiling the water naturally and I picked up on it. Anyway, I want to have you alone when you first put your element on, but I can tell you what it does right now if you want."

"It does something?" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Yep, they all do something interesting. There's one thing that all the elements can do: they can be summoned back to the bearer. I'll explain in more detail how to do that later as it's not terribly important right now. Your element is The Element of Generosity, which I just call Generosity for short."

"But I stole it… It is a necklace meant for a generous pony, right? Stealing is like the polar opposite of generosity."

"It's the overall picture that matters, not any particular instance. Take Lyra Heartstrings for example. She has Honesty but lies through her teeth each and every day."

"Huh? What about?"

"You'll have to find out from her. My lips are sealed on that matter." Then whispering to herself, Index added, "Besides giving just enough hints to make her life more miserable."

Regaining her lecturing tone, Index continued, "You should be proud that Generosity likes you, not trying to find excuses for why you're not fit for it."

"But I still stole it."

"Yes, you did. But I'm sure you've noticed that it is particularly tantalizing. More so than anything else you've ever seen or wanted in your entire life."

"Well…" Sweetie Belle trailed off, rubbing one foreleg with the other one. "Now that you mention it…"

"It's perfectly normal for a bearer to ignore everything just to get their hooves on their element. Stealing yours is no more a flaw in your character than being unable to stop a murder with seven magic suppressors on your… Whoops."

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing you need to worry about. I can take care of it later. My point was, you are completely innocent of any moral shortcomings. Lyra Heartstrings can detect lies with Honesty, so if you don't believe me we can always have her test it."

"I believe you, Index. Just…I still feel bad about it."

"Sigh… Moving along, when you wear Generosity, you will have a passive inbound telepathy around you and you can talk…think…whatever. You can thinktalk directly with anypony you have a sufficiently strong relationship with, regardless of distance."

"So, I can read minds?"

Seeing that Sweetie Belle was a bubble of energy about to pop, Index prepared for the worst and answered, "Yes."

Predictably, Sweetie Belle ended up bouncing around the room, but she was at least more subdued than Pinkie Pie. Not that that said much.

Trying her best to ignore the dual rampages of Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy, Index turned her attention to steeping the tea now that the water was sufficiently hot. As a last touch, Index summoned a bowl of sugar and took two lumps for herself.

"Sweetie Belle, the tea is done."

The filly in question abruptly changed direction and jumped over the couch Fluttershy had sat on with an awkward little boost from her magic. It was hard not to laugh when her hind leg caught on the top of the couch, flipping her over once to land on her back on the cushions.

Floating out a cup for Sweetie Belle, Index said, "Enjoy."

Sweetie Belle eagerly took the cup in her own magic, took a big sip, and froze immediately. Frowning, she lowered her cup and gazed into the tea.

"Heh, you didn't think I was going to give you caffeine, did you?"

"…Maybe."

"Yeah, not happening. Besides, there's better substitutes with magic that I can teach you. We'll have you sleeping two hours a day in no time."

"Wait, hold up. You are going to let me stay up late? Everyday?"

"Naturally."

"Oh dear Celestia! This day just keeps getting better and better!"

"Just wait. There's a whole slew of utility spells for you to learn before we have any real lessons, each one more useful than the last. Well, I probably won't give them to you strictly in that order. And the sleep one is pretty high up on the list too.

"Can I even put a total ordering on those spells? A lot of them are really useful but only in a few contexts. I suppose I could guesstimate some sort of frequency rate on those situations and do some multiplication, but it wouldn't be constant across all cultures or even as time changes our own. Maybe I could make a partial order of some kind. Hmm… I think I'll need to make some charts for–"

"Index," Sweetie Belle interrupted, "what are you talking about?"

Broken out of her train of thought, Index looked up at Sweetie Belle and then away with a tinge of red on her cheeks.

Seeing Fluttershy subdued behind the couch, Index offered her some tea and pretended the last minute never happened. With a little coaxing – and some help from Sweetie Belle – Index managed to get her to come out and retake her seat.

"I'm so sorry," Fluttershy said. "I was just so mad."

"It's fine, it's fine. Do you want any sugar?"

"Um, just one lump if that's okay."

Fulfilling Fluttershy's request, Index said, "So, back to the main topic. In order to use the elements, all six bearers – again, two of which still need to be found – have to share a positive relationship.

"Naturally, this is a pairwise problem, not a sort of group friendship thing. I would imagine Sweetie Belle and I sufficiently like each other already, but the two of us" – Index pointed back and forth between herself and Fluttershy – "are going to have to work to be friends before the summer solstice. It also means that you are going to have to open up to Lyra Heartstrings and two other ponies."

"That's only twenty-two days…"

"Twenty-one and a half," Index corrected Fluttershy. "As you can plainly see, we're on a bit of a time crunch. I was going to have the four of us gather together today, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Lyra Heartstrings is going to be in a bad mood. Which reminds me to ask, are either of you friends with her yet?"

Both Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy shook their heads.

"I know her, but she's kind of weird. Besides, I spend most of my time with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo."

"I…don't actually know very many ponies in Ponyville. Sorry."

Index sighed. _Rarity was right. I find myself in need of Pinkie Pie._ "I suppose I have no right to complain. I only have a couple friends myself."

"Sorry…"

"Could you please stop apologizing all the time. It's kind of annoying."

"Sorry," Fluttershy said, even quieter than the last one and resulting in a facehoof from Index.

"Anyways, there's something that you said earlier that's bothering me. You said you couldn't get Kindness to work for you. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Pinkie said I should be able to sense emotions with it, but no matter what I try, I just can not get it to do anything."

"That's very strange. The ability should be passive while you're wearing Kindness… Have you tried viewing the relationships between anypony yet?"

Fluttershy immediately went bright red and nodded weakly.

"…Aaaaaand?" Index asked after a long wait. "Did it work?"

Fluttershy shook her head, obviously still too embarrassed to speak.

"I don't understand… Kindness does possess a sort of irresistible attraction for you, right?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"Did anything unusual happen when Pinkie gave you Kindness?"

"Unusual?" said Fluttershy through her embarrassment. "Was something supposed to happen?"

Raising an eyebrow, Index asked, "Can you just tell me exactly what happened when Pinkie gave you Kindness?"

"Um… She just gave it to me and told me what it does. I didn't know there was something I was supposed to do…"

"Wait, she just gave it to you?"

"Yes."

"As in, already a necklace?"

Fluttershy squirmed deeper into her couch at Index's growing volume and whimpered, "Yes."

_Noticing_ for the first time that Kindness's gem had a balloon shape, Index pulled Fluttershy's backside towards her and stared at her cutie mark.

_Butterflies…_

Hopping up from the couch, Index stomped straight out the front door and shouted, "**Pinkie Pie! Get your flank back here right now and explain yourself!**"

Index stomped back inside, slamming the door behind her and casting a repairing spell on the hinges she broke. Ignoring the frightened pair across from her with ears covered by hooves, she threw herself back onto her seat, refilled her tea, and guzzled it down in one drink.

"Fluttershy," Index said in a remarkably subdued voice, casting a two spells to repair ear damage.

"Y-Yes?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Forget everything I just said. Also, Pinkie Pie will be needing Kindness back." After refilling her tea and a round of breathing exercises, Index added, "I suppose I might as well see if either of the other elements like you."

Calling Loyalty and Laughter forth from her bag of holding, Index bumped both of them against Fluttershy and was less than surprised when neither awakened.

_Well, I have a backup Kindness for when Pinkie Pie does something incredibly stupid._

Index locked eyes for an instant with Sweetie Belle and felt her exasperation drain when the filly looked down and stared at the floor.

_Oh, horsefeathers. _"Sweetie Belle…"

Sweetie Belle brought her head up and tried to look Index in the eyes but glanced away more often than not.

Heaving a sad sigh, Index realized she had no clue what to say.

_What did I do before Spike got used to my tantrums? …I compressed a bunch of carbon together and gave it to him. Right…that's not going to work here._

_Um… Um…_

As Index began what she recognized as a self-destructive spiral, Pinkie Pie burst into the room, shouting, "Hi, everypony!"

_Yes! Cheating! Perfect!_

In a dual teleport, Index appeared next to Pinkie Pie and Kindness appeared around its bearer's neck.

"Pinkie Pie, perfect timing! Tell Sweetie Belle how I'm feeling."

Humming while rubbing her jaw, Pinkie Pie answered, "Not nearly as happy as you should be. What happened?"

"I blew up at you. That's why you're here."

"Really? I thought you were just getting my attention. Nice chops, by the way; I would love to be able to sing that loudly."

"Wish not granted. Now can you be more specific?"

"Weeeeeeell, you're mostly just frustrated right now. But if you meant when I came in then you were 20.31% irritated, 27.26% sad or disappointed – those colors are hard to tell apart – 10.1% nostalgic, 18.09% worried, 9.66% happy, 6.77% relieved, and 6.81% a mix of other emotions, all with a total magnitude of 49.39 cupcakes.

All three ponies stared at Pinkie Pie.

"That's…very accurate," Index complimented. "And an impressive memory."

Turning to Sweetie Belle, Index continued, "I'm not perfect, and I can't promise that you'll never see me lose it again. In fact, I can promise that you will." – Pinkie Pie nudged her – "Not now. I know I can be kind of scary at times, and the only thing I can say is ponies get used to it" – Pinkie Pie nudged her more insistently but went ignored – "and I really don't want to lose you over that, but I don't know what to say or do or–"

Pinkie Pie nudged Index a third time, finally getting her attention with a shout of, "What?"

"She's not actually very scared. Mostly just confused and worried. But you've sure spooked Fluttershy. Really, you should save that kind of stuff for Nightmare Night. Although Fluttershy never actually comes but maybe this year–"

Ignoring Pinkie Pie rambling behind her, Index walked over to Sweetie Belle and knelt down to her level.

"Um… Do you want to go put on Generosity?"

A heart-pounding moment passed before Sweetie Belle put on the same ecstatic smile Index usually saw her with.

"More than anything."

Smiling herself, Index got up and turned towards the exit, instructing, "Come along then and we'll find somewhere private."

As Index left, Sweetie Belle following a step behind, she stopped next to Pinkie Pie.

"We'll talk later tonight. Go back to what you were doing, and please, _please_ don't try to score one-hundred percent happiness on anypony."

Giggling, Pinkie Pie responded, "Of course I won't, silly. Just because I want everypony to be happy and smiling doesn't mean I don't think other emotions aren't important."

_That's a lot of negations… I wish she'd speak slower._ "I'm just going to assume you said what I think you said. Let's go, Sweetie Belle."

* * *

It was with no small amount of hesitation that Flash knocked on the royal guard's war room. Along with the privy council room and Princess's Celestia's chambers, it was the most secure location in the castle. It was not everyday that Captain Armor specifically asked to meet with a pony, and rarer still that he deemed such secrecy necessary.

The door was enveloped in a light rosy hue and opened to reveal a furiously pacing Captain Armor. He stopped momentarily to beckon Flash enter and returned to his pacing.

As soon as the door closed, Captain Armor walked straight up to Flash and, with unblinking eye contact, asked, "You still desire my sister, correct?"

"Y-Yes, captain."

Flash began to sweat as Captain Armor continued to stare him down. Butterflies took shape in his stomach and left him weak-kneed.

"In that case," Captain Armor said, backing off and returning to his pacing, "you are fired. Pack up your things and begone by sunrise tomorrow."

"What?" Flash shouted. "Captain Armor, you've never had a problem with it before. At least, not in regards to the job. I demand an explanation."

"You are speaking out of line, ex-sergeant."

Grinding his teeth, Flash asked, "Permission to speak freely, captain?"

Captain Armor momentarily halted, seeming to think, and replied, "Granted."

"You can't fire somepony for falling in love. I know for a fact that the army celibacy act was removed by Princess Celestia over five centuries ago. And it can't be personal either, or you are simply abusing your authority. I know you're not the kind of stallion to do that. If I took this to open court, Princess Celestia would–"

"Would do nothing," the captain finished. "This is an order coming directly from _Archmage_ Twilight Sparkle, and we both know that Princess Celestia will go along with her wishes on this matter."

Flash's mouth was hung wide open as Captain Armor continued, "The fact of the matter is that my sister has grown tired of your advances and told me to take care of this while she was away. If you wish, we can find a cozy position for you somewhere far from Canterlot. You're a good soldier, but you've pushed the wrong buttons too many times."

"No," said Flash, gaining confidence simply by saying the word. "No, I don't want any such position. I'll be staying here in Canterlot. Spike will let me in."

"He will not. You have been banned from the castle excepting the unlikely official business that calls you back here. And I warn you, do not try my sister's patience on this. We both know that she's a short fuse."

"But–"

"No buts. She will quickly forget you exist if you simply ignore her, but she does not permanently forget. If she so much as sees you, she will remember you. If you even attempt at flirting, there's no telling what she will do to you.

"You could stay, if you only moved on from this silly crush."

It didn't even take a moment for Flash to decide. "I'll pack my things."

"And where will you go?"

"I'm staying."

"Why?"

"You know why. We've had several conversations already in which you extracted everything I feel from me in excruciating detail. I'm not giving up. I'm sure I have millions of rivals, but none of them have the kind of persistence necessary to court Twilight."

"I see. In that case, your new room is four-seventy-three. One floor up and three doors from the end of the hall on the left. Congratulations on your promotion, cadet."

Flash wished he had brought his helmet so he could throw it to the ground.

"This was just some stupid test! What would you have done if I didn't say I was going to stay?"

"Given you your job back. After all, you would have given up on Twily at that point."

"Argh! I don't understand! Did she even say anything to you about me?"

"No. As far as I know, she still doesn't know your name. Though, she probably knows your face by now after defenestrating you so many times."

Captain Armor approached once again and this time put his hoof on Flash's shoulder.

"As a fellow stallion, I fell your pain. As a brother, I can't say you deserve any better. But more importantly, before you start wondering if I'm showing some sort of favoritism – or reverse favoritism – here, I want to make it perfectly clear why I'm giving you this promotion."

Flash could practically feel his muscles turning to jelly as he hit an adrenaline crash. Something was up and confusion and curiosity were quickly supplanting his anger.

"You see, your infatuation with my sister makes you trustworthy in ways that I can not possibly hope to verify with any of my other soldiers. And right now, I need somepony that I can absolutely trust."

"I am at your command, captain."

"Excellent. For now, let's take a seat. I've about worn a hole in the ground from all the pacing I've done already."

"So what exactly is going on that has you in such dire straits?"

"We're having a regime change."

Flash tried to respond but ended up in a coughing fit.

"Yes, I can imagine that the public will react similarly. Naturally, this information is of the utmost secrecy, so do not speak a word of it with anypony that does not already know, nor in a place where you could be overheard.

"As it stands, Princess Celestia's insane sister, Luna, is returning to Equus on the solstice after a thousand year banishment and we have recently received intelligence that she has been capable of contact with Equestria during her banishment in an unelaborated way that can not be detected. This, of course, makes it very difficult to trust ponies."

"What exactly is her goal?"

"Two things. First is the throne. Second is eternal night. Fortunately, Twily has some mysterious plan to prevent the second, which is by far the bigger problem."

"And the first?"

"Based on what Princess Celestia said, the throne is most likely going to be Luna's. However, there is a non-trivial chance that we will be able to defeat her, again through means that have not been elaborated upon.

"That is why I am sending you, Cadet Flash Sentry, to Ponyville as the representative for the royal guard. You have two missions.

"Your overt mission is to work with the local governance to make sure the additional security we will provide for the festival integrates well. I do not imagine this will be a difficult task. I have, however, heard troubling things about the town. Not just recently, but going back many years. I have even heard that their lake was once on fire."

"The…lake…was on fire?"

Captain Armor nodded. "Be prepared; it's on the border of the Everfree.

"Now then, your covert mission is to assist a mare by the name of" – Captain Armor paused for an instant, as if he had forgotten a mission critical name – "Index Code. Through my sister, I know a bit about how we are attempting to defeat Luna, and anything we can do to help must be done.

"Understand that you are to do this as secretly as possible. Index Code is _at least_ as paranoid and temperamental as Twily and _will not _appreciate your help or presence."

With a salute, Flash said, "Understood, captain. When do you want me to leave?"

"I want you in Ponyville before noon tomorrow. Take the train rather than winging it. Index Code's cover is the festival overseer, so she'll know when you get into town. We don't want her attention on you for arriving in the dead of night."

"Can I get a description of Index Code?"

"I can do you one better."

Captain Armor's horn lit up and a miniature illusion of a light-yellow mare appeared on top of the table they sat at. Beneath her was a blown up version of her book-triplet cutie mark.

"Got it?"

"Yes, captain. Should I be worried about any explosive magic or similar dangers?"

"She certainly won't kill you, but yes. She could easily take you in a fight. Try not to make her mad. You're dismissed."

* * *

Sweetie Belle felt a little sick to her stomach as her hooves felt the touch of untrampled grass beneath them.

"Ugh… What just happened?" Looking around, she revised her question to, "Where are we?"

"I've brought us to a random location in the middle of the countryside," Index answered. "I seriously doubt there is another sapient creature within a kilometer of us, which makes this the perfect place for you to practice with Generosity."

With much enthusiasm, Sweetie Belle removed her saddlebags, opened them up, and levitated Generosity out. Looking to Index, she got the go ahead to put it on.

"_Am I coming through, Sweetie Belle?_"

Sweetie Belle let out a small, moan of pain and nodded. "This makes my head feel weird and it is hard to think while you are. Is it supposed to do that?"

"_Supposedly, you'll get used to that. It's sort of like trying to form two sentences in your head at once. Eventually, you'll get the knack for it._"

"So this is why you wanted me to wait to put on Generosity. Does it get worse in crowds?"

"_Yes, it does._

"_More importantly, my source of information gave me several warnings about the elements. Mine is the easiest to adapt to, followed by Loyalty, then Honesty. Really, all three are pretty user friendly._

"_Next comes Kindness which can warp a pony's morals. Pinkie Pie…seems to be on the right track, although I have no clue what her moral system is so I can only hope she adjusts well._

"_The worst is Laughter. It's apparently very easy to lose one's self in it._

"You _find yourself in the unfortunate position of bearing the second most problematic element. I imagine you only know Modern Equestrian, correct?"_

"Yeah."

"_As you learn more languages, the concept of privacy around you disappears. And for your friends, it is virtually nonexistent. This can lead to some huge problems in your relationships. _

"_Unfortunately, this is a two-way problem for you. Many ponies will not feel comfortable around you, and you will find many places you will wish to avoid altogether. Cemeteries, for example, are a place I suggest you never visit._

"_You can, of course, take off Generosity and its effects will end. But I can imagine you already don't want to."_

Sweetie Belle nodded her head in agreement.

"_But over and above that, even more so than the other elements, Generosity is reportedly addictive. The more you wear it, the more it's going to change the way you think, behave, converse, interact, et cetera. And when you take it off, it supposedly feels like ripping off a limb or drowning yourself. I was given some more colorful similes, but you get the point, right?"_

"I do. Is there anyway to prevent that?"

"_Only by not wearing it. Or I guess by having an unbelievably strong attachment to how you are now. Or by constantly wiping your memories. Personally, I wouldn't recommend any of the above."_

"Alright. I guess I can accept that. I just hope everypony else can too…" said Sweetie Belle glumly. "So what are we going to do now?"

"_I want to get you used to Generosity. Or at least enough so you can go home and interact with your friends and the other bearers without screaming. We can work on the advanced uses of Generosity some other time, but for the next several hours we'll just do whatever you want. At some point, I'll fetch your sister and we'll see how well you hold up with two ponies around._"

"Can I ask some questions then?"

"_Of course. Oh, but before that, can you tell me where you hid my papers? I'd like to go pick them up before I forget._"

"They are buried in Sweet Apple Acres near the zap apple tree furthest from the Everfree. They are…fifty-three paces west from the west side of the tree and thirty-nine north."

"_Thanks. I'll be right back. This'll only take a second._"

And indeed, Index was gone for no more than half a minute before returning.

"_Alright, so with that done, go ahead and ask anything._"

"So, I guess this is just to satiate my curiosity, but do you know Archmage Twilight? I only ask because I met her and she said that she knew Sun Wisp and eventually I figured out that meant she also knew about Sun Wisp's visit with you." In a smaller voice, Sweetie Belle added, "And that I was there."

A slew of words came from Index, not a single one of which Sweetie Belle understood.

"Um… What did you just say– Er, think?"

"_Sorry about that. I was thinking in Zebrican. Anyway, I may have mislead you about how well I know Twilight Sparkle. You'll get to see a lot of her in Canterlot. Especially since Rarity told me you've gotten into contact with Spike. How are things going between the two of you?_"

Once Sweetie Belle stopped dancing around in excitement, she answered, "Pretty well. He seems really nice and so does Star Charmer. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are pretty excited as well."

"_That's good to hear. Both of them could really use more friends their own age. They really only have each other. I am a bit concerned about the crusaders as a whole joining up with those two, but if you keep the combined destruction to a minimum, nopony will mind._"

Sweetie Belle laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "No promises."

Index facehoofed and asked, "_What else did you want to know?_"

"Oh, can I send other things with the flame sending spell? Like a carpet? Or a pony?"

"_Yes! I'm glad you noticed that, and I'm even gladder that you asked before trying, given that you don't actually know how the spell works._

"_It'll be a long time before we build up your knowledge enough for you to properly understand the inner workings of the spell, but its effects are pretty straightforward. You can send anything that you can burn._"

"But ink does not burn."

"_Actually, it does._"

"What?" Sweetie Belle shouted in disbelief.

"_Yeah, I was surprised when I first found out too. About a hundred years ago, when EIS – I mean, the Equestrian Intelligence Service – was first founded, they did something really smart and picked up on the flame sending spell. It's use for fast, secure, long distance messages is unrivaled. It wasn't long before the government contracts for combustible ink made it the market standard._"

"But would that not make libraries extremely inflammable? I mean, more so than they already are?"

"_Surprisingly, no. The fire used in the flame sending spell is _hot_. Dragonfire hot. It's true that modern ink does ignite, but it requires a very high temperature._

"_As a bit of trivia, most large libraries are also enchanted with a fireproofing spell. The Canterlot Archives in particular have particularly valuable or rare books individually enchanted with a number of miscellaneous protection spells._

"_But that aside, you should be able to answer whether or not you can send a pony with the flame sending spell._"

"Um… You can…but only some of one. And if I tried, I would get– Eww! I do not want to even think about that!"

"_A wise decision._

"_On a more morbid note, we live in a very peaceful country, but it has its hidden dangers. If you ever find yourself fearing for your life, the flame sending spell is…well…fatal. I wish I didn't have to point that out to you, but I have _a lot _of enemies._"

"…Will– Will I ever…have to–"

"_I truly hope not, but I can't make any promises that span your whole life. I will shield you as much as I can until you are strong enough to take care of yourself, but I am not particularly fond of hiding the truth of the world from anypony._

"_I will train you in the art of combat casting, not only to keep you safe, but also to develop your mind and sharpen your skills. If you are lucky, you will only ever need them to fight those silly honor duels the nobles insist on._"

"What did you mean, 'develop my mind'? I guess I have heard some stuff about earth pony fighting and zen and stuff, but that is not really for us. Right?"

"_There's plenty we can learn from earth pony magic, or any other magic system, but you are correct in assuming that their fighting style is trash. Earth ponies must make do with physical strength. If they work hard enough, they can manage to learn how to use their magic to counter other magic, much like a unicorn's brute force counter._

"_That's useless to us. You may wish to learn a bit of brawling just in case, but if you get that close to your foe then you are likely doing something wrong._

"_Personally, I like to think of fights in terms of the following six categories in increasing ability: untrained, meat shield, suicidal, competent, archmage, goddess._

"_Untrained would consist of ponies that have no experience with fighting whatsoever, regardless of species. An example from Ponyville would be your sister._

"_Then there are the meat shields. They know just enough to think they know how to fight. If they tried to fight anypony higher up on the ladder, they would lose instantly. I would guess that… What was his name? The one with the freakishly large muscles and tiny wings._"

"Bulk Biceps?"

"_Right, that guy. He seems like he'd fall into this category._

"_Next is the suicidal category. This consists of ponies who know fatal magics but don't really know how to defend. Fights between two of these will almost always end in an instant and in a double defeat. If one fights somepony lower, then it's an instant win. If one fights somepony higher, it's an instant loss. You'd be in this category right now._

"_And really, this is about as far as non-unicorns can go…so far as I know. Pinkie Pie makes me suspicious that earth ponies are wasting their potential. Pegasii can sometimes get to the next category, but it's rather difficult for them. Oh, and I'm lumping seaponies in with unicorns because they're pretty much the same._

"_Dragons, however, always grow into the competent level due to their extreme resistance to magic, and if they learn how to fight then they make it to archmage level. The eldest ones can even challenge Celestia herself, although they have a guaranteed loss in the end._

"_But I'm digressing from the main topic. After the suicidal level, we have the competent ponies. They know how to attack and, far more importantly, how to defend. Knowledge of the teleport spell is almost a prerequisite to be considered for this category._

"_When you reach this level, that's where you can really start learning things about magic. In order to defend yourself, you have to think fast and cast even faster. A minor mistake can cost you everything. To truly excel at this level, it's not enough to simply attack and block. You have to–_"

"To be inventive! Right?"

"_Exactly so. I heard from Rarity that you were at the duel between Twilight and Trixie. Of course, that was a pretty tame battle for the purpose of showponyship, but there was a lot that you could learn from it. Why, with enough magical stamina, you could reproduce the entire spectacle._"

"What? But– But all the ice! And the whoosh! And the illusions! And– And– I can not do any of that!"

"_Of course you can. Every single spell they used is taught to first years at Celestia's school. I suppose you might not know some of them, but they would be easy enough for you to learn._"

Sweetie Belle's mouth hung open reflexively.

"_Consider this your first homework. Find out what spells are taught to first years using whatever connections and resources you can get. Then puzzle out how Twilight and Trixie put on that show._"

"…How long do I have to do that?"

"_You can take as long as you need, but I'd hope that two or three days would be sufficient._"

Gulping, Sweetie Belle said, "Alright. I said I can do this, and I will."

"_That's the spirit! Just remember, the main point of the exercise isn't to get the answers exactly right. Valid alternative explanations are perfectly acceptable. The goal is for you to develop your research skills and lateral thinking._"

Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to say something, but Index interrupted. "_And it occurs to me that you might not know what lateral thinking means. It's pretty much a synonym for thinking creatively the way we've talked about. Using strange approaches, repurposing spells, et cetera. It produces a lot of junk ideas, but every so often you strike solidified magic._

"_That is what you were going to ask, correct?_"

Sweetie Belle nodded in answer.

"_Now, to give an example to the competent ponies, you might be surprised to learn that Lyra Heartstrings is among these ponies._"

"Really? I thought she was just a musician. I mean, she sits in the park most days just playing her lyre."

"_She has a complicated – and likely interesting – past. I'm sure you can find out if you just ask her. She doesn't seem like the kind of pony that restrains her thoughts._"

"That is a delightfully wicked idea! But rather than Lyra Heartstrings, after all these years of Rarity learning all of my secrets, I can finally have my revenge!"

"_Would you like a thunderclap in the background?_"

"Yes please."

"_Alright, it'll go off on the third pound of my hoof._"

Index toned down the light around them. On her third stomp, the world light up in flashes of near-blinding light, with an accompanying boom of thunder.

Between Index's second and third stomp, Sweetie Belle descended into her filly-pitched attempt at maniacal laughter.

"Mwa ha ha ha!"

"_You know, I can't imagine picking a better apprentice right now._"

Sweetie Belle blushed and kicked at the grass as the world around her returned to normal.

"I don't know what to say to that…"

"_You don't have to say anything since it's true. It was just an observation. And just between you and me, that was way better than Spike's version._"

In response to Sweetie Belle's obvious confusion, Index elaborated, "_He's got this whole top hat and cape ensemble and begs the archmage to give him a curled mustache. Once he gets it, he goes around causing random mischief around the castle. It's so ridiculous that nopony ever seems to mind. Besides the nobles that is._"

"Dear Celestia, I want to see that!"

"_I'm sure you will firsthoof. Probably at his side when it happens_" – Sweetie Belle fidgeted under Index's glare – "_but you've stumbled upon something that I need to talk to you about. That whole 'dear Celestia' thing._"

"What about it?"

"_Well, you're going to be around her pretty often. She acts like it doesn't bother her, but she really finds it unpleasant when she can't tell if somepony is using a term of endearment or an expletive. Please try to work those phrases out of your vocabulary._"

"Wow, I never thought about that before. That must be really annoying."

"_I'd imagine it gets old pretty quickly, to say nothing to many centuries._"

"How old is Princess Celestia?" Sweetie Belle asked, purely on impulse. "Er… Nevermind."

"_Well, generally that would be a rude question, but in her case, her age is more a point of pride. I've never asked specifically, but I can guess. There's the approximately thousand years of the Celestial Era, obviously._

"_Then I'm fairly confident she was born at the end of the Discordian Era. Ignoring however many years of that she got, there's the horribly documented Era of Harmony. Our best guess on the length of that – without simply asking – is about eight hundred years._"

"Why has nopony just asked Princess Celestia about the past?"

"_I'm sure several have, but in the historian circle she's what's known as a 'unrepentantly biased' primary source. She has a habit of lying and leaving things out when it suits her needs. Though, I'm sure the archmage would get the truth from her if she were really interested. However, she's not much of a history buff._"

"So, if Princess Celestia was born less than two millennia ago, who raised the sun and moon before her?"

Another wave of intelligible words rushed by.

"Did I ask something I'm not supposed to?"

"_There's no such question. I just realized that Nightmare Moon has been banished longer than she's not been._"

"Oh. That must be awful."

"…_Agreed. To answer your question, Discord did the moving before her._"

"What about before him?"

"That _is the million bit question. I remember having a conversation about it once. It ended with my memory of what was said being erased._"

"Oh dear C– Oh dear. Did it hurt?"

"_Only my feelings and my trust,_" Index sighed. "_Anyway, we've gone off on a _long _tangent. Not that I mind. I just get this sort of itch if I don't fully answer a question._

"_So, we left off on the archmage level. Anypony below competent can be safely ignored by somepony at this level. The difference in ability is really kind of sad when I think about it._

"_Anyways, competent ponies can win a fight with an archmage, but they require numerous advantages. The best advantage is surprise._

"_Actually, surprise is the best advantage at any level in practically every situation. More battles – magical, physical, or mental – are decided by that factor than any other._

"_Fights between archmage level ponies are war zones. You do not want to be anywhere near them when they happen. The same is true of fights between archmage level and goddess level, though the goddess level will always win without _massive '_external interference' which most ponies would call cheating._

"_Naturally, Twilight Sparkle is the representative of this category. There are a few other ponies here, but she is by far the most well known. And the youngest._

"_Finally the only ponies in the very top would be Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Celestia. This is a pretty murky area, but as it is right now, Nightmare Moon and Discord are estimated roughly equal in power with Celestia trailing significantly behind._"

"Then how did Nightmare Moon get banished? If she is so much stronger then how did Princess Celestia win? Discord too."

"_Celestia cheated using The Elements of Harmony both times. Just like we're going to do._"

"Why can't she do that again?"

"_Because in the same way that the elements like us, they hate her. I really can't elaborate on how that works. At least, not until I figure out how the blasted things work._"

"So…which category are you in?"

Index smirked and thought, "_You never asked me what my element is._"

After a few seconds of Index smirking and Sweetie Belle eagerly awaiting an answer that never came, she finally asked, "Well? What is it?"

"_You'll love this. It's Magic._"

* * *

_Ugh… How long have I been in this tub now? Two days? Three? I don't even have the energy to be mad anymore._

Lyra sank deeper into her bathtub, fully submerging herself as best as she could. The water was lukewarm despite her frequent complaints to Bon-Bon. Summers in Equestria were simply not the time nor the place to reproduce the frigid ocean depths.

After a few minutes of maintaining her awkward positioning, Lyra resurfaced and was greeted by both the most annoying and most pleasing sound ever.

_Finally! Index is awake!_

Walking straight into the bathroom without so much as a knock, Index finished whistling _Under the Sea_ and paused to enjoy a good chuckle.

"Yes, it's very funny," Lyra deadpanned. "I don't even care. Just get these suppressors off of my horn."

"Sure thing!" Index practically sang.

Lyra felt herself being lifted from the tub, dried off in a flash, and suddenly turned back into a unicorn.

Wobbling a bit on her fresh legs, Lyra asked, "What's got you in such a good mood? Is it really that fun to watch me suffer?"

"No, no. I just spent a lovely time with the bearer of Generosity."

As she followed Index downstairs, Lyra sneered, "At least one of us doesn't have romantic troubles."

"Nope. Not letting you ruin my good mood. Sweetie Belle is the bearer for Generosity, and she's an fantastic student, not a lover."

"Sweetie Belle? The eleven-year-old filly?"

"Yep! I really wish I could have gotten to her when she was younger, but she's not yet too old to mold if I play up to her idolization of the archmage and myself."

"You're dragging a filly into this?" Lyra shouted.

"No, Generosity is dragging her into it. Besides she was the one that took it while I was unconscious, so it's not _really_ my fault."

"Isn't there some way to give Generosity to somepony else?"

"Not without killing Sweetie Belle or her committing some horrible act, both of which obviously defeat the point. Besides, I rather like having her on the team."

Upon sitting down in the living room, Index's horn grew to a steady, low glow. Lyra followed suit, remembering that Index had said the process would take a while.

"Also, Pinkie Pie ended up with Kindness, which I guess is good for the short run with how friendly she is. I'm not sure what to think of her having additional powers in the long run."

"What about…Loyalty and…uh…the weird element…Laughter?"

"Heh. Yeah, I'm not sure how laughter is a personality trait either, though magic is even farther out there. Regardless, I haven't found bearers for either of them yet."

"How have you been looking? Cause it sounds like you've been finding bearers by chance so far."

"Well, I asked Pinkie Pie for a list of ponies with relevant personalities and when I was not out like a light, I was investigating slash socializing with them. Pinkie Pie was right about Fluttershy being a bearer for Kindness – even if she bucked that up herself – so I'm inclined to trust her judgment."

"Couldn't you just make the elements invisible and bump them against everypony in town?"

Index opened her mouth, but rather than words coming out, she facehoofed instead.

"I feel like such an idiot. I even remember explicitly suggesting that to myself before I came to Ponyville and I _completely_ let the problem of friendship overshadow everything else. Talk about putting the cart before myself."

"Glad I could make you feel that way."

"I think you're supposed to say, 'glad I could help.'"

"Whatever. How's it coming?"

"I have the first one deactivated. I'm just starting on the second."

Lyra nodded, then asked, "Have you had any thoughts on how we're going to get to know each other?"

"No. Mostly I've just been making your life worse in subtle ways."

Lyra noticed the distinct lack of Honesty tingling at that sentence.

"Gee, thanks. But I guess that's sort of what I thought we could try. The whole, 'we hate each other but everypony else thinks we're the best of friends' thing."

"Eh… That doesn't sound like a good idea, but we can consult Pinkie Pie later. Kindness has some abilities that should help make our course clear. That, and Pinkie Pie is the master of friendship so I'd bet she can tell us exactly what to do."

"Alright. Do we do that tomorrow? Tonight?"

"The day after next. I have to have a talk with Pinkie Pie tonight and tomorrow I'm going to hunt down a bearer for Loyalty and one for Laughter. Along with some miscellaneous tasks."

"Are you sure we can't do that sooner?" Lyra insisted.

Index's eyes narrowed as she asked, "Why so eager? We're already going to be spending two unpleasant weeks together. Are you really in such a rush to extend that?"

"Well, you've sort of forced me to reveal my secret to Bon-Bon over the past couple days. Right after she said she didn't care if I didn't tell her too. I'm kind of uncomfortable around her right now…"

Honesty set off a little bit at that, prompting Lyra to think, _And I still don't know how to respond to her advances…_

"Hmm… This is not something I would usually do…but I could, in the interest of a good relationship between us, erase her memories of the past four or five days and then promptly forget that you agreed to such a horrible act. If you wish."

"That–"

_That would actually be really nice. I could go back to being an unassuming unicorn boarding with a pony that just happens to be a good friend. I'd still have to save the world, but once that was done, everything could be so peaceful again._

_Just peace, music, and good company._

_No Honesty. No seaponies. No romance…_

"I– I don't know…"

"Well, the sooner you decide the better it will be for Sweetie Drops. And the more plausible your excuse for the large gap in her memory will sound."

Index lifted all three suppressors from Lyra's horn and presumably teleported them somewhere for safe keeping.

"Anyway, I'm heading out. I'll be all over town tomorrow if you make your decision."

"Yeah… See ya…"

Lyra gave an unenthusiastic wave as Index left. Not that the mare actually bothered to notice.

When she was sure Index was gone, Lyra whispered towards Honesty, "I am not seriously considering Index's offer."

Immediately, the annoying tingle of Honesty told Lyra she was lying.

Lyra rose to her hooves, shouting, "I hate you!"

Honesty went off again.

"Argh! You think you know me so well, don't you? Well, I've got news for you, Honesty. You don't!"

Honesty just tingled once more.

Enraged and frustrated, Lyra threw herself back onto her couch and pulled a pillow to her barrel with nearly enough force to break the seams.

It was not helping.

Worse, it all smelled like Bon-Bon. Lyra threw the pillow across the room with her magic and rolled over onto her back.

Sighing, Lyra thought, _It feels so good to have my magic back. Especially after being stuck as a seapony. Not having hooves is far worse than I remembered. I was practically helpless without either…but Bon-Bon took care of me…_

_I wish I didn't know every word she said to me was so absolutely true. I could go into denial that way. Or brush off her feelings as her being confused by some fake seapony pheromone or something._

Lyra eyed Honesty, the question forming at her lips once more. But like every other time she had tried, she did not put the question to the test.

_Why can't I just ask if I love her? Eldritch horrors, curse this necklace!_

_Because you don't_, came the niggling thought that Lyra always tried to ignore. _You love her but you're not _in love _with her. You just don't want to hurt her feelings._

_Ugh… Shut up, brain. So what if mammalian mating is weird? We've had the right biochemistry for it for years now! This is purely a matter of the heart. Stop thinking like a fish and start thinking like the mammal we've chosen to be._

Lyra tried once more to ask Honesty how she felt, only to again curse her own cowardice.

* * *

Daisy's eyes snapped open at the insistence of a rare magic so powerful it ignored every protection placed upon Twilight's tower. The source was definitely far away, but just near enough to demand both her silence and her grief.

Silently sobbing, she found herself being drawn out of bed towards the window. The pull was slow, but as irresistible as any other time Daisy had been caught in this magic. Her head was pulled to the moon and she could hear the faint sound of a piano growing from nowhere accompanied by some stringed instrument.

Unbidden words in a language Daisy did not know came to her mind and, with no other outlet for them, she sang to the moon.

_What _is _this song? It's– It's a lullaby…right?_

Daisy would have gulped between verses if she could.

_This feels like an elegy. I don't even know what I'm singing, and it's breaking my heart…_

Wiping away tears she knew were her own now, Daisy went into yet another verse that sounded oddly familiar. After several minutes of singing, it was the first thing she had heard that sounded anything like a chorus.

Listening carefully to what she was singing, Daisy caught a few words that sounded almost like Equestrian.

_Is this Old Equestrian? Who would be _singing _in Old Equestrian? Who could _possibly _be singing in…_

Sudden realization dawned on Daisy and commanded her to find the royal star of this heartsong, but Daisy could not so much as blink without the song's permission.

_Bucking song! Princess Celestia must be in horrible pain! She doesn't need you making things worse for her! Just end already!_

The musical magic felt like it was coming from far above but, staring at the moon as she was, Daisy could not see hide nor hair of its source. As far as she could tell, there was not a single cloud in the sky, much less a huge, rainbow-maned alicorn.

At long last, the song ended and Daisy was free to move again. She flung the window open and tried to defenestrate herself only to be reminded of the wards grounding her. Daisy rushed downstairs, identified the book that she had hidden the ward keys in, and ripped it off its shelf.

Tearing the book open and pulling out the note Twilight had written for her, Daisy inserted the identifier into her spellwork and took off out the nearest window.

Outside, it was night on top of a mountain without any surrounding structures to break the wind. In a word, Daisy was freezing.

_I may not be a pegasus or a real archmage, but I can at least manage a warming enchantment._

Slowing to a halt, Daisy shifted her focus to keeping herself warm and managed to avoid wobbling or falling while multicasting for once in her life. Once finished, she immediately returned to floating herself towards the direction the heartsong had been pulling from.

Far above, Daisy spotted a tiny cloud big enough for at most four ponies tightly packed together.

As she approached, Daisy shouted, "Princess! Are you alright?"

Daisy flew over the top of the cloud and found a normal sized mare with bright pink hair and a white coat. She was about to panic since there was nothing else above her or even nearby when she noticed the mare had both wings and a horn.

Landing cautiously on the cloud, first with one shaking hoof to make sure Twilight's bracelet would work and then with all four, Daisy asked, "Princess Celestia? That is you, right?"

Sighing and standing up from her prone position, Princess Celestia answered, "Yes. I suppose your presence here means I pulled you into my song." – Daisy nodded – "Please accept my apologies for awakening you so long after we returned from the Everfree."

"Wha?" Daisy started. That was the last thing on her mind. "I don't care about that. Are you okay?"

"Should I not be?"

"Well…it's just…that song…"

"What about it?"

"It was agonizingly sad! And I couldn't even understand it!"

Daisy fell on her rump and covered her mouth with her forehooves almost immediately after yelling at _Princess Celestia_ of all ponies.

"I'm so sorry."

Princess Celestia smiled and grew back to her normal size and coloration, saying, "You are quite forgiven." Stretching her wings, she asked, "Shall we be getting back to the castle now? It is very late."

"But you didn't" – Daisy's voice grew quieter as she realized she was being deflected – "answer my question…"

"Daisy, your concern does you credit but I was merely singing an old song I remembered. Nothing more."

Daisy grit her teeth at Princess Celestia's polite way of saying 'mind your own business'.

_I know that's not how heartsongs work. You meant every word and every feeling that came with it._

_Whatever is tormenting the princess must be _huge _if she's so miserable. Even bigger than this Nightmare Moon thing. Perhaps beyond mere mortal comprehension… But if there's any pony that could understand–_

"Talk to Twilight, princess."

Princess Celestia froze in place, facing away with wings halfway spread. Daisy thought she even saw a completely out-of-character wing-twitch from the goddess.

Recovering from the surprise and regaining her courage, Daisy continued, "I– I know she must be just a foal to you; gone in a blink. Myself as well. And everypony else. That's why you call us your little ponies. And I know I've only seen you two together for a little bit, but it's obvious that she's special to you. Let her help."

Daisy waited with bated breath as Princess Celestia continued to stand perfectly still, betraying nothing of her thoughts. Finally, she spoke, her voice as sweet and comforting as always.

"Twilight does not like heartsongs. But thank you for the reminder that the closest pony I have to a daughter is going to die in a few weeks or a few centuries. I sometimes wonder just how I ever manage to forget."

Princess Celestia jumped off of the cloud and descended in lazy circles leaving a petrified Daisy behind, her mouth hung open and her eyes wide and once more tearing. It was more than a minute later before she managed to put a coherent thought to what she had heard.

_What did I just do?_


	9. Chapter Eight - The Great Bearer Hunt

_Twilight found herself facing straight at the exit to her dream realm in the first floor of her tower. The same engulfing sense of herself surrounded her as it had last time._

"Ha ha ha! Yes! Who's the mare! Twice out of three tries!"

Shuffling around on her hooves, Twilight showed off her less than reputable dance skills in her excitement.

"And the last time doesn't count because Luna dumped me in here before I woke up so I didn't _really_ fail. Two out of two! Twilight, you are the best dreamer!"

Finally calming down, Twilight looked around to make sure Luna was not watching in case the dream before was all part of some elaborate prank. Fortunately, she was nowhere nearby and a quick scry of the known universe – what little there was – turned up only one alicorn.

_So I'm alone. Good. I wonder if the ease of getting here is a result of Luna forcing her way into my dreams or just from having a dream world setup at all. Luna did say something about it being hard for her to get in the first time. Maybe there's something similar for me going on. I'll have to run tests on other ponies sometime later._

_But first, I have a chamber of autobiographies to construct before Luna realizes I'm asleep._

Wielding her dream magic, Twilight carved out a basement for the tower and descended the spiral staircase into it. Next she began the arduous task of constructing the security scheme she had designed earlier in the day.

First she divided the circular room evenly in half with a wall, placing a door in the dead center. Upon the door she placed an enchantment that would prevent anypony but her from passing through. On the side lacking the staircase, all magic was disabled excepting dream magic which she planned to turn off once she finished. For good measure, she also defined the walls and door to be indestructible.

None of those measures would not prevent Twilight from exercising control over the space should she choose to modify it later, but the enchantments would keep Luna – and anypony else – out so that the inside could not be seen until after a brainwashing occurred.

And to add a real measure of security, far up in the sky above her tower, Twilight placed a dream spell to do two things upon the reversion or alteration of the rules of the basement. First, it would undo all changes made, leaving the basement as it had been before. Second, it would teleport Twilight straight into the sealed room and issue a warning that her memories had been tampered with and a suggestion to consult her autobiographies.

Then, to make extra, extra sure, Twilight placed the same protections on the reversion spell itself, making it impossible to remove or alter without the code that she would place in the front of every autobiography. Alongside each copy of the code, she planned to place a similar warning; using the code meant that her memory was very likely tampered with.

_Alright. Not perfect, but good enough to foil any plans Luna could make at least ten times with high probability. Oh, actually…_

As an afterthought, Twilight explicitly added a spell removing all magical changes made to a pony that entered the room, just in case it would have any effect on real world spells.

_Alright, _now _I can get started on writing a very abridged record of my life. I can come back and fill in the details some other night. _Realizing just how much knowledge she had to backup, Twilight added, _s… Definitely going to be nights. And after other experiments._

Before stepping through her new door, Twilight created a regular book, quill, inkwell, and a quill holder that a _very_ young foal would wear before learning how to use whatever magic they had available. After all, she certainly was _not_ going to try writing with her mouth.

Turning the doorknob with her magic, Twilight walked inside and placed her writing implements on the ground. Instantly, she realized a flaw in her grand design.

_How am I supposed to close the door?_

Twilight tried stretching her wings to reach the knob, but she had made the door for regular sized ponies and her current stature was working against her.

_Wait a second. Better idea._

Stepping back outside, Twilight turned herself into a young dragon with the necessary height and, even better, opposable claws.

Twilight stood still, watching her claws curl and uncurl as if they could reach out and attack her of their own volition.

_These are soooooo weird. _Taking a quick glance at the quill on the other side of the door, Twilight thought, _How does Spike even use these things?_

Taking a step forward, Twilight promptly fell on her face.

…_Bipeds…_

Before getting to her feet, Twilight altered the properties of ivory to be both as soft as a cloud and as firm as diamond. Somehow, that bizarre logic worked. The floor was now as comfortable as any cloud bed back in Canterlot but did not deform under her weight.

_I really hope I'm not causing myself to go slowly insane by making these kinds of modifications._

With the wall as a crutch, Twilight wobbled to her feet. Carefully putting one foot in front of another, she made it past the door. Grasping the knob with her hand, she pulled the door shut.

_Oh my gosh! Opposable claws! They're not as good as magic, but still!_

Taking a few uncertain steps to where she had left her book and quill, Twilight lowered herself to the ground, making it halfway before collapsing when her knee did not bend in the manner she had expected it to.

_At least I didn't spill my ink…_

Twilight propped herself up into a semi-comfortable cross-legged position that she had seen Spike in frequently.

After scooping up her quill into a fist, Twilight thought, _How does Spike hold this thing again? I'm pretty sure he uses three claws…somehow._

Several failed positions later and she stumbled upon one between her opposable claw and the two adjoining claws that felt somewhat natural. Putting ink to quill and quill to paper, Twilight wrote a title on the book and immediately felt like burning it.

_My hoofwriting is atrocious! I've seen better calligraphy from snakes._

Twilight sighed and put quill to paper again.

_Oh, well. I can always make a better copy later with mag–_

The quill snapped in two under the pressure of Twilight's grip for which the only proper response was a facepalm.

_This is going to be a looong night._

A quick foray out of the room and Twilight had repaired and upgraded the quill to unbreakable status. Frustrated, but more determined than before to make this work, Twilight started her autobiography.

Line by line, page by page, she scratched out the story of her early years. Other than a few key events and relationships, there was little that she actually cared to remember. Occasionally, she threw in a comment about an application of a spell of which she was particularly proud.

Her handwriting slowly grew from headache inducing to almost tolerable and there was only one ink stain from a dropped quill. A good start.

It was approximately an hour later, about halfway through her practical exam and Spike's birth, when Twilight heard Luna.

"What do you mean I don't have access rights?"

There was a brief pause before Luna spoke again.

"**I am Princess Luna, alicorn of the moon **_**and**_ **the stars. I will not be stopped by some wooden clown.**"

With barely controlled laughter, Twilight thought, _I'm so glad I put some automatic taunts on that door!_

"**What? Oh, **I get it. Well then, Twilight," Luna said, "if you are planning on sequestering yourself then I'll just go see what Spike's up to."

"Stop!" Twilight shouted, falling over as she tried to scramble to her feet. "Curse these things…"

Managing to get to the door and bowling through it, Twilight found a smiling Luna waiting just on the other side.

"One species change wasn't enough for you, I see."

Ignoring Luna's jest, Twilight growled, "Do not get within a single kilometer of Spike."

"I wouldn't _dream_ of it." – Luna's elbow nudges were not improving Twilight's mood – "Not with all of the fun times we're going to have tonight. I've been working on a dungeon off and on for a few centuries. With you in the group now, this seems like the right occasion to show it off."

"I'll try to keep my excitement under control," Twilight grumbled as she reshaped herself back into her default filly form.

* * *

Twilight whacked an orc – or maybe it was a kobold, or a lizardpony, since they all looked pretty much the same to her – in the knee with a morning star and stepped back as it fell onto its chest, crippled.

_Everything is so much simpler here._

Cursing her limited telekinesis, Twilight fumbled with her weapon and brought it down for a knockout blow rather than simply bursting a few important veins or severing the spinal cord.

_If you're chaotic neutral, you're an intrepid adventurer and everything you do is morally right._

Sighing, Twilight finally turned her attention from the battle to her ally, Blue Belle, who was once more on the ground with one health remaining. She had been bugging Twilight for a heal for at least four rounds now and it was getting annoying enough to deal with.

_If something's evil, you just kill it. No questions asked._

With her light weight, Twilight found herself knocked clear across the battlefield by a troll's club and a good portion of her health being sent flying even further. After tumbling head over tail for some distance, she found herself sitting in the midst of no less than a dozen opponents.

Blue Belle had managed to get to her hooves and was now comically running for her life. Quicksilver was singing and useless. Berry Punch was busy kicking flank of her own across the field with her bare hooves. Seabreeze was missing as usual. No doubt he would jump from a shadow again soon to get another sneak attack while nopony was looking.

So Twilight was alone.

_Might as well cheat…_

"So, how are we going to get out of this?" Opposition asked, grabbing a space dagger from Overseer.

"We could execute a daring and highly fatal maneuver to grant our allies the chance to live," Advocate offered, grabbing a staff for herself. All three of them knew she was deliberately avoiding the obvious solution of flying away considering how high the ceiling was.

The three Twilights stood in a circle facing outward, each supporting the other two as they fought somewhat clumsily. No part of Twilight was particularly experienced with martial weapons, but her telekinesis was good enough in real life that even with the rules of the game restricting her to one item per Twilight, she was still making this work.

"That's stupid," Opposition said as she blocked a sword.

Advocate laughed and replied, "Really? That's stupid? That's a terrible counter argument."

"Shut up!" – Opposition managed to score a hit in the groin and followed up with a killing blow – "I'm working with very sparse mental resources here."

"Fillies," Overseer scolded, "try to keep us together."

"Together?" Opposition curiously said the word. "I offer a counter proposal."

"Oh no…" Advocate said as Opposition bucked her hard enough to send her barreling into a crowd of orcs, knocking three of them over. The other two Twilights pounced immediately after and effortlessly sent their foes into dream dreamland.

With the way clear, all three ran away. Opposition and Overseer cast healing spells on Advocate as they ran, drawing from their individual spell pools and not suffering the penalty for casting on their self.

At that exact moment, everypony – friend and foe alike – froze and Luna appeared in front of the Twilights. They quickly took a thought of opportunity to agree that what they did was the best option and collapsed back into a single Twilight.

"No," Luna said. "Just… Just no."

Unfreezing, Twilight asked, "What? The rules obviously allowed all that."

Face hoofing, Luna replied, "Look, I tolerated your rules lawyering back at that trap when you argued that alicorns must be as resistant to poison as earth ponies are. I let you get the party past those guards with that wheel of cheese. I was even thinking about going along with letting three of you fight considering how much it obviously divided your focus. But I am not" – Luna stamped her forehoof – "letting you triple the limits on your magic."

"Spoilsport," Twilight whispered, eliciting an eye roll from Luna.

"I'm patching the rules of this game. If you split up again, everypony will freeze in place until your merge back. Got it?"

"In other words, talking will be a free action."

"…Only in your own thoughts…" sighed Luna. "On second thought, if you do that again for any reason, your health will instantly drop to zero instead."

"Remind me, are there any artifacts in this magic system that will keep me conscious at zero health?"

"If there are, they will be destroyed by your mere touch."

Twilight muttered under her breath, "I should just banish you again."

Sighing, Luna said, "Twilight, I'm sorry if you're not happy about this, but I have to keep the game balanced for the others. You understand, right?"

_Jerk_, was all Twilight thought as she turned away – making no attempt to hide her displeasure – to see how her team was doing.

"Ugh… Please don't make _me_ treat you like a filly too."

"Too? I'm a fully grown mare," Twilight said with her filly-pitched voice.

"All current evidence to the contrary…sweetheart."

Whirling on Luna, Twilight stammered, "I– You– This isn't– I'm not–" before descending into a blush on the ground.

"Aww, you're so cute when you're embarrassed. Makes me wish I had helped raise you."

_That's a good point. Why is she here _now _instead of when I was young and impressionable?_

Before Twilight could ask anything, Luna said, "Go get 'em, tiger," and disappeared.

The world unfroze. Quicksilver missed a beat – or two or three – but restarted her song quickly enough. Seabreeze was still missing. Naturally. Blue Belle had stumbled and was about to go under again. Berry Punch was galloping to her rescue.

And behind Twilight was a pack of very angry orcs bull rushing her, each at least four times her own size.

"I choose…" – Twilight looked to her party and back towards the horde – "option: expeditious retreat."

Storing her weapons and whistling, Twilight grabbed an already unconscious – as far as a pony could be unconscious in the dream realm – and fortunately light and armorless Blue Belle in her magic and shouted, "Run away!"

Twilight took to wing and fled from the room without looking back. Somewhere in the maze of hallways the group had already passed through, there was a strong gate they could use to barricade themselves in with while they recovered.

Trusting to her memory of the infernal labyrinth, Twilight took turn after turn and only hit Blue Belle on two walls along the way. From the shouting, at least two of her teammates were behind her and the horde was behind them. Seabreeze was still missing.

Finally, the turn Twilight wanted came into view and she barreled into the well fortified room she had been looking for. Unfortunately, it was now well fortified in more than one way.

Gulping as Blue Belle floated up to her side, Twilight cast a healing spell on her.

"Blue Belle, please tell me you have more explosive fireballs."

The mare in question got to her hooves and took stock of the second horde in front of her as their surprise round wore on.

"…Nope."

"Lightning?"

"Uh-uh."

"Hold portal?"

"Why would I learn that?"

"…Maybe Luna would let you cast it on a heart."

"…That's not a bad idea. So, how bucked are we?"

"Very," Twilight answered as she drew her morning star.

"It's been an honor, archmage."

"I've told you a dozen times, just call me Twilight."

"Isn't this when the cavalry is supposed to charge in?"

"I think we are the cavalry."

"…Why do we even have that word?"

"Well, back in pre-Discordian times there was–"

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh. Shall we charge anyway?"

"It's as good a way to die as any."

Twilight surrendered her staff to Blue Belle and they galloped forward side by side, roaring their own battle cries.

* * *

Index was busy indulging herself in research in the wee hours of the morning in Pinkie Pie's room. Celestia had risen the sun less than an hour ago, but Index had been up far longer after abandoning her party to their doom after she had died. There was no way anypony would convince her to sleep naturally ever again.

Not even to spend more time with natural wings, as nice as they were.

Or to figure out what Luna was after. That was still a huge unknown. Index had let herself sleep longer than she normally would; although, that was for working in her dream world, not for playing with Luna.

So far, Index had come to three important conclusions. First, the Pinkie Sense _did_ work while Pinkie Pie was asleep. Second, triggering it could make things _really_ awkward with blankets interfering.

Lastly, and most importantly, she _had_ absorbed magic from her previous experiment. Whether or not it was permanent remained to be seen, but her graphs and math definitely concluded she had a tiny bit more magic than she should outside of experimental error.

_Oh my gosh! This is absolutely, positively, fantastically, spectacular! It worked! It actually worked! If you were still alive, Star Swirl, I would marry you just for putting me on the right track!_

_Though, there's still so many problems I still need to work out. Like letting ponies be awake after they absorb the magic. And getting rid of the debilitating pain that may or may not have horrible effects on older ponies. And may get worse the more you do it. And might have a significant risk of being fatal at any age. And make sure it gives more magic than you lose which might be a fight against the inevitable if the aging process speeds up._

_And then there's the logistical problems Celestia never managed to figure out… Hmm…_

_Well, anyway. A big first step for _me _living forever by repairing my magic as it crumbles._

_Then I just need to figure out what makes Celestia so darn _durable_. If I can just figure that out, I should be able to make myself the same way. After figuring out how to break the density limit too. I don't really want to be a kilometer tall. If that would even work._

Index was still absorbed in thought when Pinkie Pie appeared at her side, looking over her shoulder. For this surprise attack at least, she had heard the earth pony get out of bed first.

"Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Making everything better forever," Index said flatly as she stored her research away in her bag of holding. "Assuming I live past the solstice."

"Twilight, on my adventures, I usually find it beneficial to have a more upbeat attitude."

"One, don't call me Twilight. Two, I'm being practical. The secret of success is proper pessimism."

"Nonsense. There's nothing that a bit of good cheer and a smile can't fix. Why, if I could get Nightmare Moon to attend one of my parties then she'd give up the whole eternal night and taking over Equestria thing."

"That's nice. Anyway, we're spending the day together."

"Oh my gosh, really? That's soooo exciting! But I'm _way_ behind on my parties with all these new ponies flooding into Ponyville. I don't know if I can give you a whole day, unless you can magic up some way for me to be in more than one place at once because that would be super duper fantastic. Please, oh please can you do that?"

"N–" _Well, I suppose it's possible. And Pinkie Pie might have the brain power for– No. One Pinkie Pie is enough._

"No. Plus, if you're already behind on parties then you're not going to catch up. The influx of ponies is only going to increase as the Summer Sun Celebration nears. I made a quick stop at town hall just after it opened and apparently the mayor is already having a hard time finding places for ponies while the inns are being finished."

"I guess…" Pinkie Pie muttered, her hair beginning to sag.

"And besides, you're booked until after the solstice."

"Are you sure I can't–"

"No. You can't give Kindness to Fluttershy no matter how much you think she deserves it. I'm not having this conversation again. I also mentioned to Berry Nectar that you probably won't be available to decorate Ponyville."

"But–"

"No buts. There's no point in decorating for a _sun_ festival if there is no sun."

Pinkie Pie hummed angrily before reluctantly agreeing.

"So what are we doing today? Do you have some sort of crazy plan for us to do?"

"No, not really. We're just going to hunt down bearers for Laughter and Loyalty. I was going to do it myself, but you've obviously got a better memory than myself – even with magic – and I want to prioritize Ponyville residents over visitors."

"Oh, well, I had some ideas for both of them. Well actually, you already have most of my ideas for those, but I came up with some more ideas after that that I have to give you. Though I still don't know exactly what kind of pony Laughter wants. Cause there are like a thousand hilarious ponies just in Ponyville but you said that bearer frequency is low so that got me thinking that it probably means something else. Oh, and Dash isn't–"

Index sighed and interrupted, "Pinkie, we're going to take a much simpler approach. Brute force. We're just going to check everypony until we get a hit, starting with Ponyville residents. As soon as you're ready, we're going to go to the market, sit down, and you're going to point out ponies we haven't tested yet. When the market runs dry we'll start wandering town and hunting down ponies we missed."

"What about ponies that aren't in Ponyville right now? I mean, Dash isn't here and she–"

"Not bothering. If we don't have _any_ success then we'll broaden our search past Ponyville. Otherwise, it's not time efficient to track down stray ponies."

"But shouldn't we–"

"No. I set aside all of today to do this mindless task, and I am going to enjoy having a full day to sit back and just _think_ all day for the first time in weeks. All this socializing is wearing me down. I _need_ this. Understand?"

"Um…yeah. Whatever brings your happy up."

* * *

"Don't shift tha' one yet, Big Mac!" shouted Apple Bloom.

The stallion in question froze and glanced over toward a pile of rubble.

"Eeyup," he said. Then, finding a safer beam to remove, he returned to his work.

"Whew… Be more careful. I know tha' tha weight wouldn't 'a hurt ya, but tha wreckage is mighty sharp."

"Apple Bloom, don't ya be scolding yer brother, ya hear. Thanks fer tah warnin', but ya shouldn't talk to yer brother like tha'."

Big Mac approached Applejack from her side and laid a hoof on her shoulder. When he had gotten her full attention, he said, "Eenope," and shook his head.

Apple Bloom watched as her big brother and big sister managed to communicate with just eye contact. It never made any sense to her how they managed it, but Big Mac never had any complaints with Applejack's conclusions.

"Oh, very well, Big Mac. Let's just get tha rest 'a this ole clubhouse loaded up. I'm practically starvin' righ' now."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.

Sighing, Apple Bloom looked behind her and up into the sky. A few meters above ground, Scootaloo had been watching from a small cloud she had made, but it looked like she had drifted off to sleep.

And she was not the only thing drifting. The cloud Scootaloo was resting upon was moving. It was slow, but steady. Apple Bloom would not have even noticed if not for the weather team's preparation for tonight's rainfall providing a backdrop other than a clear blue sky.

_Now, where's she goin'. 'N why? There's no wind, 'n she can't be doin' it in 'er sleep. All tha pegasii would just disappear like a six day old zap apple if'n they did tha'._

Following the drift as best she could with her eyes, the trail lead into the orchard. With a little effort, she found Sweetie Belle in its path, horn glowing faintly. Her head stuck out from behind an apple tree just enough to get line of sight.

_What tha?_

The instant Sweetie Belle locked eyes with Apple Bloom, she made the universal sign for 'shh' and created a tiny version of the emergency signal.

Apple Bloom waited until neither her brother, nor sister, nor her assorted other relatives watching the deconstruction were looking in her general direction and slipped behind a tree. Making her way from tree to tree as silently as she could, she finally reached a nervous Sweetie Belle.

"What's with all tha secrecy, Sweetie Belle? Ya on tha lam from Rarity or somethin'?"

"No, that is not–"

Noticing the lack of a stone sphere nearby nor a spherical bulge in Sweetie Belle's saddlebags, Apple Bloom interrupted, "Is it Index? Ya don't have tha' stone thin' with ya. Did she find it on ya already?"

"Yes, but–"

"Well, ya can't hide here. This is tha first spot anypony would come lookin' fer ya."

"I am not hiding, Apple Bloom. At least, not from her."

"Well then, who are ya hidin' from?"

"Groups of ponies. Especially your family since they – no offense – tend to swarm this time of year."

_What in tarnation is she goin' on 'bout?_

"Just– Just meet me at the zap apple tree with Scootaloo and _nopony_ else. I will explain there. I have some mixed news to share."

_What's with ponies 'n bad news today?_

Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to say something, but then shook her head and fled further into the orchard. After a sigh, Apple Bloom trotted back to the others, bucking an apple from a tree along the way.

"'N just where have ya been, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Speakin' with Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said, lobbing her apple at Scootaloo with zero success at awakening her. "She needs ta talk to Scoots 'n I in private."

"Tha' sounds awfully suspicious. What's she done this time?"

"No idea." – Apple Bloom retrieved her apple – "Maybe nothin'."

Throwing the apple again but harder this time, Scootaloo snorted and rolled right off of her cloud. Crashing onto the ground, she awoke with a start.

"Who's a wha?" she shouted, still splayed out on the ground.

"Nice ta see yer awake, lazybones. Sweetie Belle's showed up 'n has 'er own news ta share."

"News?" Scootaloo's curious face soured quickly, and she said, "Oh… Right." Standing up, Scootaloo looked around and asked, "Well? Where is she?"

"Meetin' us elsewhere. If tha's okay with ya, big sis?"

"Yeah, tha's fine," Applejack grunted, heaving a large beam into the wagon filled with scrap. "Just be back soon ta help out with tha little stuff here. Rain's gonna be strong tonight 'n we don't want these little slivers roamin' tha orchard."

"Alrigh'. Let's go, Scoots."

With a wordless nod, Scootaloo fell in behind Apple Bloom and they wandered off into the orchard in a random direction. Once they were far enough away from the rest of the Apple Family, they turned towards the Everfree and their real destination. Soon, the zap apple trees came into view and at the base of the nearest one awaited Sweetie Belle.

As they approached, Sweetie Belle's face went from nervous to excited to sad and then full circle back to nervous.

"Alrigh', ya two. We're finally togetha' so both 'a ya start talkin' 'bout wha'e'er it is tha's eatin' ya."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked to each other, then Sweetie Belle said, "Scootaloo should probably go first. She will take less time."

"Yer not goin' ta go on 'bout how ya met tha archmage, are ya? Cause I don't wanna hear it."

Giggling weakly, Sweetie Belle said, "I know you do not. More so now, than ever. I promise not to say anything about her."

"Hmm… Alrigh' then. Go ahead, Scoots. Scoots?"

Scootaloo was deeply withdrawn into her own thoughts and Apple Bloom poked her a few times to break her out of her trance.

"Huh?" Scootaloo said, looking around in confusion. "Oh, sorry fillies. I wasn't paying attention. What's up?"

"Wha's up? Wha's up with ya? Yer not actin' like yerself at all today. Start sharin'."

"Well, it's just…you see…Dash is moving to Canterlot."

"Oh, Scoots! I'm so sorry fer ya. I know how much–"

Sweetie Belle had placed a forehoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder to prevent the imminent hug. Turning to look at her, Apple Bloom saw her shake her head.

Then she said, "Please continue, Scootaloo."

"I…I'm…" – Scootaloo looked down and rubbed her eye – "I really didn't think I'd be this hard to say."

"You are moving to Canterlot too," Sweetie Belle stated.

Wiping her head up, Scootaloo asked, "How did you know?"

"I will tell you soon. But for now, you need a hug."

Stunned by Sweetie Belle's insight, Apple Bloom watched her go in for a hug. Recovering her wits quickly, Apple Bloom joined in the group hug and made an obviously uncomfortable Scootaloo even more so.

"Okay, okay!" Scootaloo shouted, squirming and flailing as best she could when constrained by a double hug.

_I wonder if'n Dash finally got 'round ta adoptin' 'er?_

Breaking off from the hug, Apple Bloom managed, "So did–" before having her muzzle clamped shut by Sweetie Belle.

_Wha' are ya doin'? I ought ta give ya–_

As if in response to Apple Bloom's thoughts, Sweetie Belle shook her head slowly and asked Scootaloo, "Can you tell us why you are moving to Canterlot?"

"If you get off me first." – Sweetie Belle giggled but complied – "Dash got pressured into teaching at some fancy new school for pegasii and I somehow managed to get myself invited there as a student…even with my wings like this."

Scootaloo had turned fully gloomy again, but just as she opened her mouth to continue, Sweetie Belle said, "And you deserve it. You might not be able to fly properly, but you worked so hard to make up for it. You are better than half the weather team and they are more than twice your age."

"Do– Do you really think so? I mean…aren't I just a– a bribe to get Dash to agree?"

"No way! And even if you were, Dash would want you to show them just how good you are and teach them a lesson they will never forget."

"You're right!" Scootaloo shouted, a fire in her eyes. "I'll show them what's what and who they're messing with!"

"You go filly! They will never forget the name Scootaloo."

"Who would? I'll be so talented by the time I get out of there that nopony will ever be able to beat my records!"

"Even Rainbow Dash?"

"Y-Yeah! Maybe. Possibly…"

Scootaloo deflated from the frenzy Sweetie Belle had whipped her into but still looked like a whole new pony from the melancholic one she had been moments ago.

_Wha' just happened?_ "Sweetie Belle, since when are ya so good at raisin' spirits?"

"Hmm? Oh. Well, as Index would put it, I am cheating."

"Wha'?"

"In due time. I am going to send another letter to Spike later, and if you want, Scootaloo, we can ask him to find out about your situation for sure. I have no doubt he would do that for you."

"Um, yeah, I'd like that. Honestly, I feel a lot better right now, but I'd really rather know for sure. Thanks, Sweetie."

"No problem." Sweetie Belle's smile faltered as she continued, "Now, I have a lot to share myself. A lot has happened ever since I met…you know who."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and Scootaloo just laughed.

"I feel really bad about this now that I know Scootaloo is moving to Canterlot, but I am too, actually."

In unison, both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted, "What?"

"Yeah…" said Sweetie Belle, her fore hoof rubbing the back of her head. "I am really sorry we are leaving you alone, Apple Bloom."

"No– I– I can find other friends ta…ta hang out with… 'N besides, ya got tha' mail spell. It's not like we can't all stay friends. 'N Canterlot's not tha' far away. It'll work out…"

"Apple Bloom, I know you do not mean that. Even if I were not cheating, it is written all over your face. But I do have an even better way for us to stay in touch which I will get to later."

"Really?" Scootaloo asked. "What will you show up with tomorrow? Teleportation?"

"Oh no. I asked Index about that but she told me that there is a multi-week safety training session." Sweetie Belle managed to hold a straight face for a moment before breaking down and saying, "And several years of prerequisite work and stamina building."

All three crusaders managed to enjoy a good laugh together as they forgot their problems for just a few seconds.

"So," Apple Bloom began as she recovered, "I guess Rarity finally decide ta move ta Canterlot."

Sweetie Belle tried again and again to say something, but she kept breaking down into more laughter.

"Yer joke wasn't tha' funny, Sweetie Belle."

"N-No. Heh. It's n-not that. Oh dear. It's too good!"

_It's? This should be interestin'._

"Yeah, it is. Y-You see, she is not the one moving. She said something about a new job, but I never managed to get much out of her. She's actually the one–"

Sweetie Belle fell into another laughing fit, much to the impatience of the other crusaders.

"Come on, Sweetie. Out with it already."

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Rarity is moving in with me, not the other way around."

Complete silence descended until Scootaloo let a, "Pft," escape, setting off Sweetie Belle again. It was not long before Scootaloo joined her and Apple Bloom followed immediately after.

"Oh, Sweetie. You were totally right. That's too good. So why are _you_ moving to Canterlot?"

Sweetie Belle let out a deep breath and, with only a weakly shaking voice, said, "Index asked me to be her student and I am moving to Canterlot with her when she goes back."

"Way to go, Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted with an accompanying hoof bump. "You got yourself a snazzy apprenticeship with a pretty sweet pony."

"Can't say I'm happy ta see ya go, but I'm glad fer ya just tha same."

"It is going to be so much fun. I am going to live in the castle and Index said I will get to spend time with Spike and Star Charmer and I will get to meet Princess Celestia and you know who often. And then there is the Canterlot Archives at my full disposal which is just so amazing. They must have more books about magic in there then I could ever possibly read! Just thinking about it is making me crazy!"

"Hey, Sweetie, calm down. You're going all magic nerd on us again."

"Sorry, but just– just" – Sweetie Belle squeed then sighed – "Anyway, I can probably let you into the castle whenever you want to visit, Scootaloo."

"Sweet. You can count on me coming by all the time."

"Same with you if you come to Canterlot, Apple Bloom."

"I'll keep it in mind. But shouldn' it be ya'll tha' comes ta visit me? Being a genius pegasus and spellcaster, tha trip's gotta be a hundred times easier fer ya two."

"Please do not say that to Index. She would just tell me to figure out how and add it to my homework."

"She's already giving you homework?"

Sweetie Belle turned to Scootaloo and sighed. "Yes, and quite a lot of it. I kept opening my mouth and she kept finding stuff for me to do. At least she did not give me anything else as hard as the first one. Well, I suppose there was a zeroth one, but that is more of a life lesson."

"So wha' was tha first one?"

"Basically, I need to reproduce the battle between Trixie and you know who."

"She wants ya to reproduce tha'?" Apple Bloom shouted.

An instant later, Scootaloo followed up with, "You _were_ there, right? That was you with Berry Pinch, right?"

Getting the nod from Sweetie Belle, she added, "How on Equus can she expect you to do that? That was like a clash of titans!"

"Well, she gave me a hint and said that they only used a specific set of cantrips. Though part of my assignment is to figure out which ones. I was going to ask Spike to give me the list. I think that was the answer she wanted me to come up with for that part. Use all my available resources and such."

"Sweetie, I love what you do with your magic, but you know I filter out the technical stuff. What's a cantrip?"

"It's just a simple spell taught to young unicorns ta see wha' their talents are in, Scoots. With how closely Sweetie Belle pays attention to yer ramblin' 'bout weather, ya'd think ya could at least know tha'."

Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo asked, "So you're saying that those two did all that with just weak little spells for foals?" – Sweetie Belle nodded – "Yikes. Makes you wonder what a real fight would look like."

_Not pretty I'd imagine._

"Definitely not," Sweetie Belle said. "Err…I mean, Index said they get pretty ugly, so you definitely do not want to think about them. Anyway, I have something even more important to share, but Index told me I have to get you two to Pinkie Promise not to say anything about it if I do."

"Ooh! Is this like a state conspiracy or something?"

"Sort of?" Sweetie Belle answered, obviously unsure of her answer. "She said everypony could speak freely about it after the solstice, so maybe not."

"So this is an undercover operation then! That's so cool! I knew she was a secret agent!"

Apple Bloom sighed inwardly. _I swear, Scoots is gettin' crazier ev'ry day._

"You can say that again," Sweetie Belle said.

"Alright. I totally called it! Index is a secret agent. No matter what Pinkie says."

"Wait, ya got a visit from Pinkie 'bout Index too? I thought she was just bein' 'er usual random self."

Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle, but she only said, "I need you two to make your Pinkie Promises before I can say anything. I gave my word as a crusader on that."

Sighing, Apple Bloom gave her Pinkie Promise with must less gusto than Scootaloo who was almost achieving liftoff in her excitement.

"Okay, take a closer look at my neck. Notice anything?"

"Not real– Wait, there's somethin'…" – Apple Bloom reached out a hoof to poke Sweetie Belle but hit something metallic instead – "Wha' is tha'?"

Sweetie Belle's horn glowed for a moment and a golden necklace with a purple gem faded into sight around her neck.

"Isn't that the necklace inside that rock you were carrying around?" Scootaloo asked.

"It is. Index gave it to me and we are bonded magically somehow so it only works for me."

_We? Tha's pretty weird, e'en fer us._

"Well, Index sort of treats them like ponies and she is sort of rubbing– I just responded to your thoughts again… Please do not freak out."

Sweetie Belle turned to face Scootaloo, saying, "Yes, I knew the moment you came near me; it was all you were thinking about." – Scootaloo's eyes narrowed – "Five. Salmon. I can not pronounce that, sorry."

"Whoa…" said Scootaloo in the exact same tone of voice she had used when watching Trixie and the archmage yesterday.

"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle said, her face stiff. "You have been…quiet. If I am bothering you…I can leave."

"Sweetie, you don't have to–"

Sweetie Belle cut Scootaloo off with a hoof.

"Scootaloo, sorry, but I am getting a headache being around two ponies and it is getting hard to tell when you are actually talking. If you could just be quiet for a moment please." Sweetie Belle turned back and said again, "Apple Bloom? Please talk to me. Or think at least. I can not work with the random scraps of thoughts you are having."

_So…ya didn't just get all 'a those embarrassin' thoughts?_

Sweetie Belle gave a sigh of relief. "No. I can not pick up emotional, visual, or abstract thoughts. I need a language medium. It is hard to explain how, but you can sort of squash your thoughts before they turn into something I can listen to. Rarity is _really_ good at that…"

_Do ya hear a…an echo when ya speak?_

"Yes, for the most part. From both of you. It is the most annoying thing you could ever imagine. Index said I will learn how to filter eventually, but it will never go away."

"Hey, Sweetie. Not to be rude or anything," Scootaloo started, then finished much louder, "but can I get in on this conversation?"

"Sorry. Apple Bloom was just curious if I hear other ponies thinking what I say."

"Oh, that does sound annoying."

Returning to the conversation proper, Apple Bloom said, "So, can ya–"

"Respond before you finish asking a question? Usually, but it depends on how long the question is and who is talking. I try not to though. At least, not when there is more than one pony around."

"Then this necklace thing is how you're going to keep us in touch with Apple Bloom?"

"Yeah," answered Sweetie Belle while fidgeting with the gem. "Index said I can speak telepathically with any of my friends with it."

"Sweet!" Scootaloo shouted with an accompanying hoof pump and a flutter of her wings. "Do me first!"

"Sorry, but I am not supposed to try until I get used to being around ponies. In case I start picking up everypony's thoughts or my own start leaking."

"Tha's a funny way ta describe it. Leaking…"

"Leaking…" Scootaloo said the word with strange emphasis.

"Leaking…" Apple Bloom echoed back.

"Leaking…"

"Will you _please_ stop that!" Sweetie Belle shouted, eyes clamped shut and her forehooves on her temples as she fell to her rear. "Argh! You have no idea how badly you're echoing! It's like a hoof on a chalkboard times a hundred!"

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah, sorry."

"It is fine. I am sorry too for snapping. Anyway, I still have more to share."

"There's _more_? Wha' kind 'a world are ya livin' in now tha so much happens in a day?"

"I think that would be the world of princesses, archmages, and dragons," snarked Scootaloo.

"Ya forgot ta metion goddess."

"And a slumbering evil goddess," added Sweetie Belle.

The other two crusaders gaped.

_Yer fightin' an ancient evil? Tha's ridiculous! Like straight out 'a a foals's book._

Sweetie Belle grinned, although whether to her or something Scootaloo was thinking, Apple Bloom had no idea. Either way, Scootaloo was the first to respond orally.

"That! Is! So! Cool! You're going to be fighting evil already! That's just– Just amazing! Can we come too? We can show her just what the crusaders are made of."

Smile fading, Sweetie Belle said, "I wish you could but…"

"Index said no, righ'?"

"Yeah…"

"It's alrigh', Sweetie Belle. Savin' tha world's important business." Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo and nudged her. "I said, savin' tha world's important business."

"Um…yeah. I guess I can't hide how disappointed I am, but I guess I'd rather the world still be around for me to be disappointed in. Just bring us along for the next one, alright?"

"Of course!" Sweetie Belle said, beaming. "I will not be able to spend much time with you two for a while starting tomorrow, so we should make today really count."

"So, wha' should we do today?"

"We should–" Scootaloo started. Then her excitement dipped as she continued, "You know, I've been so busy with Dash that I didn't even give it a thought."

"And I have been busy with Rarity and Index."

"'N I've been seein' to the clubhouse… Though I guess tha's not so important anymore."

Scootaloo half-whispered, "What a downer…"

"There's always tha letter tha' Sweetie Belle was gonna write. We could come up with somethin' while we're writin' it."

"Sounds good," Scootaloo agreed.

"Should we?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Why not?"

"It _would_ sound weird," Scootaloo put in.

"Since when hasn' it?"

"Good point," said Sweetie Belle.

"Alright then, on three," Scootaloo said. "One."

"Two," Sweetie Belle counted.

"Three."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Letter Writers! Yay!"

* * *

"Pinkie…how much of Ponyville have we covered?"

From her position as spotter on the roof next to Index, Pinkie Pie said, "Five-hundred-sixty-three ponies down. Only two-thousand-forty-one left."

With both Pinkie Pie and Index visible only to each other, Index followed Pinkie Pie's hoof towards her next target and brushed the remaining elements – also invisible – up against the stallion to no effect.

"Plus one, minus one."

"Yes, thank you. I got that."

"And seven with your hair style," Pinkie Pie added with a giggle.

"Yes, _thank you_, Pinkie. I got that."

* * *

Daisy was walking through the halls of Canterlot castle with Princess Celestia and both of them were running late. They could have teleported straight to their destination, but Daisy kept pressing private matters.

"I'm so sorry about last night, princess."

"Why does nopony ever believe me when I say I forgive them?" whispered Princess Celestia.

"I didn't quite catch that. Did you have something you wanted that I could do to make amends?"

Princess Celestia stopped and said, "Please forget about it, Daisy."

"Oh, of course. You didn't want to be reminded. I'm sorry I keep bringing it up…"

Sighing weakly, the princess turned to face Daisy, her irritation managing to show through her usual smile. "Since I can not get you to stop, I shall distract you instead. We are headed to the senate, and I am going to give you the same advice that I once gave Twilight. Sit quietly, entertain yourself, and speak only if spoken to."

Walking once more, Princess Celestia continued, "In Twilight's case, it was a solution to her disdain for everypony present. For you, it is your inexperience. This shall be nothing like open court, so stay calm and watch carefully for next time. I should imagine this session in particular shall not be pleasant."

"Um…I don't actually know much about how this works."

"Odd. I thought I mandated a government class for primary education centuries ago."

"Well…yes, but it was short and a long time ago. And I…" – Daisy's voice lowered to a whisper – "may not have been paying attention."

"I see… If you would, please inform Cadance of any educational shortcomings you can think of and have her work on correcting them. Have her consider shuffling government into secondary schools in particular."

"Of course."

"We have little time, so I shall try to keep my answer short. The senate is where most of our paperwork comes from. We had been working through the backlog that Twilight left behind and, now that we have caught up thanks to Twilight borrowing Magic, the senate is meeting to debate our decisions and go over new material."

"Does… Does that mean… Well…"

"Feel free to ask your question, Daisy, whatever it is."

"Well, there is this old joke about you."

"Ah, I think I know the one. 'The Benevolent Dictator' is the joke you are referring to, correct?"

"…Yes. Are you not?"

"It _is_ the popular opinion that I am outside of the castle, but no – despite Twilight's insistence that the change would be an improvement. In the past, Luna and I ruled together and between us held all of the executive authority of Equestria. That includes military matters and how money allocated by the senate is actually spent.

"We would get into the silliest fights with one another, vetoing some decision and then vetoing the veto and on and on. Of course, I am the only diarch here right now, so that does not happen anymore."

Daisy was about to express her sympathies when Princess Celestia continued, "Since Luna left, the archmage position has far more often than not gone unfilled. As Twilight would love to tell you, I have a tendency to try controlling everything myself. Very rarely, I find a pony who I can trust enough to hoof over a large chunk of my authority.

"You are no doubt aware by now that you have the power to overrule any senatorial decision. Technically, that is not a power of the archmage but of another position Twilight holds, but I rarely separate the two.

"The senate is responsible for legislation and controls our purse strings."

"Then how does anything ever get done?" interrupted Daisy. "Twilight said–"

Interrupting back, Princess Celestia replied, "Twilight is overly harsh on our nobles. She hates them and they hate her. There is no shortage of bad blood between them and nothing I have tried has mended the rift.

"Not that I have any hope of Twilight feeling anything more than apathy toward them. You must understand, she finds their desires and ambitions petty. Almost beneath contempt. Twilight has essentially zero interest in money, land, political power, tradition, noble honor. The list goes on.

"There is but one thing they consistently agree upon, although for vastly different reasons…"

"…And that is?" Daisy asked after a prolonged silence.

Princess Celestia seemed to be mulling over whether or not she should answer. Finally, she said, "I should be remiss to be the one to speak of it. And worse at explaining it. You should ask Twilight herself.

"Moving along, it is true that the average noble is at least a little corrupt, conniving, and greedy; although, there are a wingful of altruistic nobles such as Duke Fancy Pants. Despite this, as a whole, they keep the country running at the national level. Twilight and I, in turn, keep it running in the right direction."

"But all of the ridiculous stuff I've rejected," Daisy began. "It's– It's– I don't even know what to say to some of those laws."

"Yes, _some_ are rather horrid, and you can expect far more coming with Twilight absent. However, most of them are not. It can be difficult to remember that in the wake of the bad. And besides, not everypony in the senate is a noble." With a wink, Princess Celestia said, "I have managed to use my benevolent dictatorship to open up many seats to outstanding regular citizens over the years."

After enjoying a short laugh with Daisy, Princess Celestia said, "I shall not bore you explaining who owes who favors, what voting blocks exist, who can be played against who, or any similar aspects of our game.

"Twilight herself has not bothered even trying to learn. She is much like a sledge hammer when it comes to politics: only good for one thing."

Daisy fell into a barely controlled laughter at the princess's simile.

Intermediately suffering a fit of giggles, Daisy said, "Really? I would have thought it'd be something she'd pick up pretty easily."

Stopping far outside the doors leading into the senate's chamber, Princess Celestia's horn glowed for a while before she replied, "Perhaps she could, but everything is much easier as she is. It is quite obvious what she and I do, but to maintain plausible deniability, and avoid another year of headaches, I shall never admit to having said this.

"Twilight is vicious with her rejections and makes decisions solely based upon her opinion without consulting anypony or asking for my opinion. If the senate hopes to get something passed, they must first satisfy Twilight's whims. And, unlike most nobles, she is unbribable because nopony has anything she wants that she can not obtain herself and she is unthreatenable for obvious reasons. Not that it stops ponies from trying.

"Do you remember the year when the senate refused to work?"

"Of course I do," Daisy answered. "That was an…interesting year."

"Indeed. That was nearly two seasons after Twilight started shutting down the senate. I had a near-constant migraine – even with magic – from her investiture to the end of the senate's protest but it was worth it. Everything became so much easier for me when the nobles accepted every act must pass through the 'Twilight Filter.'"

"Couldn't they just demand her resignation?"

"Somepony does practically everyday but only I have the authority to actually dismiss her." Princess Celestia chuckled and said, "And we have made it abundantly clear that she has me wrapped around her hoof.

"Anyway, very simplified, the senate puts all of its matters to a majority vote but does much of its work in small groups outside these meetings. Each vote is weighted depending on the rank of the voter – a byproduct of a deal I made long ago that has come back to bite me. Neither you nor I have the right to vote, nor does any of the royal family, but we all have the right to speak. Any questions before we go in?"

Daisy was about to say no when she remembered one that she had been thinking about more frequently after last night. Biting her lip, Daisy said, "No…"

"That did not sound like a real no," Princess Celestia scolded without dropping her smile or her caring tone.

"Well, I do have one…but it's sort of more related to…to what you said last night."

"Please just ask your question," Celestia said, a hint of a sigh in her voice.

"I've been mulling this around for awhile now, but I really only started to think about it seriously after you mentioned how long… Never mind. What I wanted to ask was, how old is Twilight? Subjectively, I mean."

"Are you referring to her outrageous sleep schedule?"

Daisy nodded her head and said, "If I'm going to be her friend, it's important."

"A fair point. She has been skipping sleep since before I met her. I remember when she was young. She would wake me up in the middle of the night on occasion when she got out of bed to disastrous results."

_They slept together! Words can not express how badly I bucked up last night. _"I'm so sorry for last–"

Princess Celestia's understated glare cut Daisy off. Regaining her calm smile, the princess said, "Twilight has _at least_ an extra seven years of consciousness over other ponies her physical age. You can reasonably treat her as a thirty-year-old.

"Although, to be completely fair, with how often Twilight polymorphs, she is physically a year or two younger than her chronal age. She has told me she plans to lock her physical age as soon as she is sure she has fully matured. That shall likely happen within the year, so the difference there is not as striking."

"Um…princess?" Daisy whispered to interrupt. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, Daisy. Twilight must be rubbing off on me. I have found myself rambling more frequently these years. But if you ever need a good laugh, try mentioning her height around her at some point.

"And with that said, let us join the fray."

Once Princess Celestia finished, she began walking forward with Daisy falling in behind her. As they approached the chamber doors, the guards posted there opened them to reveal a massive herd of at least one-thousand ponies of such random and mismatched colors it almost hurt Daisy's eyes to look at them.

"All rise for her majesty, Princess Celestia! …And her excellency" – the herald paused for a moment – "Archmage Daisy Wishes!"

Everypony in the room immediately stood up in one echoing, thunderous roar. Underneath it, Daisy could have sworn she heard some laughter that did not get drowned out.

_No doubt that's directed at me. Oh well… I would probably laugh too if I were in their horseshoes._

The chambers of the senate were laid out in a large semicircle climbing upwards as a pony went back in the rows of chairs and tables. At the very center of the semicircle sat the royal family, and it was to these seats that Daisy and Princess Celestia walked. Joining them was Princess Cadance; her father, Prince Presto; Prince Blueblood; and his mother, Princess Emerald. Apparently, none of the consorts merited an invitation.

Princess Cadance gave a small wave and beckoned for Daisy to sit next to her.

"Try not to panic," whispered Princess Cadance. "You will likely be a minor topic of discussion once we start."

Daisy gulped and made her thanks for the warning.

Inside the semicircle and placed in front of the royals stood a podium upon which a red coated, important looking stallion was waiting. His over-styled gray hair matched his excessively gilded clothing.

_I suppose if you can't be the princess, you might as well try to look more important than her._

Once Princess Celestia had taken her seat, everypony else followed and Daisy noticed something odd.

It was not the apparent ordering of the ponies. Based on their clothing and general stuffiness, Daisy guessed that the more important a pony is, the closer the pony sat to the front. That was not surprising at all.

Nor was it particularly interesting that Daisy recognized several faces in the crowd. She had spent enough time in the castle by now that she could remember the pushiest ponies and many of the ones that requested something from open court.

It was not even that strange patch of red, green, brown, and orange earth ponies that dominated a large swath of chairs just past halfway up. Not even the one with the ten gallon hat.

All of that was overshadowed by one thing. At least eighty-percent of the ponies present were unicorns.

"Princess Cadance," Daisy whispered. "Why are there so many unicorns?"

The princess moved her chair closer and slightly leaned towards Daisy to answer, "I'm sure you've noticed the pony species have a tendency to not cross breed, for practical reasons which I'm sure _you_ understand and sometimes…other reasons. Twi could give you a whole sciency lecture on that so I suggest you don't ask her why."

After a subdued giggle, Princess Cadance continued, "You're looking at the product of hundreds of years of those other reasons at work."

"Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately," Princess Cadance said, her smile faltering. "When you're born a _pegasus_ princess by some genetic fluke, it's hard not to notice."

"Oh… Sorry if I–"

"It's fine. We can talk later if you wish. For now" – Princess Cadance gestured with her head towards the podium – "Marquis Poppycock is finishing his warm up."

Just as she had said, it was only moments before the marquis began.

"My noble friends." Gesturing toward the back of the chamber, Marquis Poppycock continued, "Our honored guests. To all of you, I bid welcome to the thirty-ninth meeting of the nine-hundred-ninety-ninth senate.

"We have many matters of great import that require our discerning eye, but I fear there is a more pressing concern to our great nation. We have a great weakness amongst us. A weakness which would condemn us to a life of slavery or worse."

Daisy could practically feel the thousands of eyes turning in her direction as she tried none too subtly to hide herself behind the chest high walls of the royal box.

"I see your eyes are drawn to the pony our dear archmage has left in her place. I assure you, it is not she of whom I speak."

_What?_

The assembly erupted into a clamor of whispers as the acoustics of the chamber did their best to deliver each whisper to every corner.

"Princess Cadance," Daisy whispered, "do you know what he's talking about?"

"No idea."

Marquis Poppycock's forehooves raised to call for silence.

"No, though we may question our archmage's judgment in her weaker moments, as we would of any pony, there is a constant danger that walks amongst our citizens. A danger that devours their very souls. A danger so well-hidden, our knowledge of it comes from old nursery stories."

_Please, oh please, don't be talking about Nightmare Moon…_

The marquis's horn glowed for a moment and a few seconds later a small, glass box without holes for air flow appeared near him in a sloppy teleport. At least sloppy by the standards Daisy was developing from working with Princess Celestia and Twilight.

"Dear Celestia, what is that?" shouted a noble Daisy recognized as Baroness Strawberry Lime.

At the same time, Princess Celestia rushed to her hooves, knocking her throne back with the force of her earth pony strength. She disappeared in a teleport and took the horribly wounded pony in the cage with her.

Daisy fought the urge to vomit at the image etched into her mind.

_Oh Celestia! Her wing was ripped in half! And her coat was cracked everywhere!_

"That, my dear baroness, was a changeling. Captured by our own Sir Pony Moore whilst visiting Viscount Star Dream on his country estate. The very same viscount who is not feeling well enough to attend today. Changelings are parasites which feast upon emotions. Our love is particularly succulent to them. I fear the number of families brought to ruin may be beyond count."

"Stop!" Princess Cadance shouted. She looked to be in no better state to debate than Daisy was.

Turning slowly, the marquis asked, "You, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, of all ponies. You wish to speak out for these monsters?" Addressing the assembly again, Marquis Poppycock said, "Monsters that can take the form of _any_ pony at _any_ time. Your lover could be replaced by a changeling and you would never know."

In a burst of light, Princess Celestia reappeared next to the marquis at the podium, her face anything but a smile yet somehow not angry either. If a word were to be used to describe her, it would be royal.

Stomping her hoof to silence the panicking crowd, she commanded with the full force of her voice, "**This session of the senate is dissolved until further notice. Should anypony speak of this matter before reconvening, I shall be paying that pony a **_**personal**_ **visit in the near future.**"

With that, she disappeared again, brooking no further discussion on the matter.

* * *

Index and Pinkie Pie stood in the middle of somepony's home that they had just teleported into. A family of five where eating an early dinner – or a late lunch – and remained blissfully unaware of the two intruders standing a few steps away.

Sighing as neither element reacted to anypony in the room, Index pulled out her map of Ponyville once more.

"Where to next?"

Pinkie Pie put her hoof on a building two to the west and across the street. Immediately after, Index fired off yet another teleport and committed yet another minor crime she had no intention of telling Celestia about.

* * *

One minute, Espionage was in EIS headquarters, keeping things running for the commander in her form while she was at the meeting of nobles or some such nonsense that changelings never had to worry about. The next, he was somewhere else entirely. It looked like a cave of some sort with huge blue and purple crystals dominating the terrain.

"Espionage, I need your help immediately," came the voice of Princess Celestia to his side.

"Of course," Espionage said, turning towards the princess. "What's wro–"

The sight of a horribly maimed changeling came into view. She had a magic suppressor on her horn which severed her connection to the hive and was obviously not conscious.

"I know very little about changeling biology, Espionage. I need to heal her and time is a _very_ pressing factor right now. This mare was just presented to the entire senate for reasons I can not begin to fathom at the moment."

"I– I–" Espionage found his voice leaving him.

"I can understand if you are hesitant when she likely hates you, but–"

"N-No, I'm fine. I left all that behind me when I took a pony name. As best I could. But, I don't– I'm not a doctor. Can't you just polymorph her for now?"

Princess Celestia shook her head. "I believe the shock on reversion would kill her. It would be as if there were a dagger on her neck for the rest of her life."

"I see… I can call out to the hive for help. What do you need exactly?"

Princess Celestia gave a careful look at the changeling on the ground. "I need someone with knowledge of changeling internal anatomy. I do not know how long she has before she succumbs to her wounds. Perhaps hours. Maybe minutes."

Nodding, Espionage relaxed the barrier between his mind and the hive and sent out the princess's request to everyone that was listening. It was not long before he received several responses and attracted the attention of the queen.

"_What on Equus are you doing, scum?_"

Ignoring Queen Chrysalis for now, Espionage asked one of the changelings that knew anatomy for their location.

"I found someone. She's in Tall Tale right now. She'll fly up into the sky and head towards the center of town. She's taken the form of a blue pegasus with a yellow mane and a short tail. Her name's Coxa."

"Thank you. I shall return shortly," said Princess Celestia before disappearing in a burst of light.

"_Queen Chrysalis?_" Espionage hazarded.

"_So, you finally respond. I see your respect and loyalty to your queen has not changed._"

"_Could you please not do this every time we come in contact?_"

"_No._"

"_But everything worked out so well for everyone! I understand why you can't let it go, but can't you be civil?_"

"_You had few enough rules to follow! Do not reveal yourself to anyone! Contribute to the well-being of the family! Do not get within a kilometer of the archmage or the princess! Regardless of how things turned out, you broke all three of them at once when you showed up at _open court _of all places for your own desires! You are untrustworthy, treasonous scum! And the _only _reason we are doing so well is because you had the extraordinarily good fortune to have Archmage Twilight Sparkle meet you instead of Princess Celestia!_"

Espionage did not need his empathy abilities to understand how upset Queen Chrysalis was. Not that they would have worked on another changeling or someone all the way in Los Pegasus.

"…_You're right. It is all too obvious that the princess didn't care for me when the archmage first took me as a science project. I'm sorry._"

A long silence stretched and when Queen Chrysalis next spoke, her voice lacked much of the venom it held before.

"_I suppose that is a start. Now, what is happening?_"

"_I'm not entirely sure. Princess Celestia showed up with a half-broken sister–_"

"_How did we not know about this already? Archmage Twilight assured me that she had not shared the magic she has placed on you with anyone but Princess Celestia._"

"_There's a magic suppressor on her horn. It's cutting off her connection to the hive as well as her other abilities. Although, she's fortunately not awake to try. Ah, one moment._"

Princess Celestia had returned with Coxa who immediately went about investigating the damage done.

"Princess Celestia," Espionage began, "I have Queen Chrysalis's attention right now. What do you want me to say to her before you finish with her?"

"Tell her what I told you and pass on my apologies for my little ponies's actions and for letting her hive be exposed. Also, inform her that I will be visiting her after this to discuss what course of action we wish to pursue."

Nodding, Espionage returned his attention to the hive.

"_Princess Celestia is attempting to heal whoever we have here. I've seen the archmage do some very impressive things and she's supposed to be even better, so I think my sister will be alright._"

"_Excellent. Do we know who is responsible for this act?_"

"_Um…probably. But…there's a bigger problem._"

"_We can manage a few more ponies knowing about us. For however long they live._"

Espionage flinched at his queen's tone and said, "_We can't–_"

"_I know. Memories spells and Equestrian justice. But if it's as bad as you say, I have my doubts on how long the culprit with last._"

"_Actually…it's worse than that. She was apparently presented to_" – Espionage cringed in advanced knowing exactly how the queen will respond – "_the entire senate._"

"_What?_"

Even over the hive, Queen Chrysalis's shout hurt Espionage's ears. He could see Coxa wince across the cave as well.

"_The princess apologizes that this happened, for what it's worth. She says she's coming straight to you after this to work out damage control._"

"_Very well. I shall claim a sudden affliction and retreat to my dressing room. If she requires further direction, let me know._"

* * *

Dash stood at the Canterlot train station, her one bag having already been sent ahead to the castle by the train attendants. It would have been faster to fly to Canterlot, but how often does a pony get a chance to ride in the royal car?

The city was a lot more impressive flying through it than looking on from Ponyville or Cloudsdale. It even felt a bit like being back home with her parents in Cloudsdale considering the altitude, even if everything was made of stone and glass.

Dash had been sorely tempted to stop by a bookstore and see if the new Daring Do adventure was out since the Golden Oak Library was always behind on releases. But that was part of why she was here to begin with and she was not going to tempt fate. That never worked out in adventure novels. She would probably bump into a friend or an old rival. Or perhaps worst of all, Princess Cadance.

Instead, she flew directly to the palace. It was so large and obvious that she only needed directions to find the main gate after taking shortcuts above homes rather than following streets. After finding a guard and giving her name as instructed, Dash was led inside.

Attempts at small talk with her guide were met with short, gruff answers and they soon fell into silence as they walked. The palace was more or less everything Rarity droned on about. At least the parts of what she said that Dash could remember. Lots of art and ritzy stuff, but nothing really interesting.

_I suppose I should get used to this kind of stuff. I'm gonna be around it all the time now._

After a rather long walk through halls a little to crowded both on the ground and in the air, they finally arrived at a quiet area tucked away in a corner of the palace. Two guards were posted outside one door and it was to that door that Dash was being led.

A couple of terse nods between the three guards and the door opened to admit Dash. Once inside, the door closed behind her and Dash found herself in a modestly decorated meeting room with a fancy table surrounded by a hoard of chairs in the middle of it. On the opposite end from the room's entrance sat a pink pegasus filly and a purple baby dragon. Both were sitting on cushions to be able to peer over the top of the table from their chairs.

"Um… I think I'm in the wrong room," Dash said as she turned to leave.

"You are Rainbow Dash, correct?" the pink filly asked.

"…Yes."

"Then you are in the correct place. I'm glad you could make it. We have much to speak of."

"Aren't you supposed to be…older? And have a multicolored mane and tail like mine?"

"Yes…well… Shining here and I played a prank on Twi and upset her. Our punishment is to spend the day swapped in appearance with the next generation. But it was totally worth it. Right, honey?"

The dragon, apparently Prince Shining, laughed. Slowly at first and then explosively.

"_Totally_ worth it, Cadance."

Princess Cadance leaned over and gave Prince Shining a peck on the check who reacted rather strongly, retreating from his wife with a huge blush.

"Don't do that!"

"Just showing my love, dear. What's wrong with that?"

Prince Shining seemed at a loss for words before pointing and saying, "You look just like our daughter. It's weird."

Princess Cadance giggled and Dash asked, "So, is this good enough counter blackmail material to get me off the hook?"

The princess hummed thoughtfully before answering, "Nope. 'Fraid not. This would only be endearing."

"Horseapples!"

"Language, young filly."

Dash stared stupefied at the pair for a moment before rubbing her forehead with her wings.

"Can we just get on with this?" Dash asked.

"Indubitably," said Prince Shining.

"Quite," Princess Cadance added. "So…what are your credentials?"

"I think you've made it perfectly clear you know all of those."

"Oh. Yes. Of course. Just checking. We wouldn't want a changeling taking your job after all."

Prince Shining hissed something in the princess's ear.

The princess then said, "Whoops. Please forget what I just said."

"Oh? Well, I might be able to be persuaded to…"

For a moment, Princess Cadance's eyes showed pure panic and worry, but then they regained their confident, playful gaze.

"If you feel that way, we can bring Twi or Princess Celestia here, erase your memories and start this interview over."

_Oh buck. _"That's– That's okay. I'll keep whatever it was secret."

Just then, the door opened to admit a normal sized Princess Cadance with a weary expression plastered on her face.

_I guess this is their daughter. That one princess Rarity mentions occasionally. Princess what's her name…_

"Oh no," Prince Shining said behind Dash.

"So," the normal sized princess began, "what state secret have you two given away this time?"

"Well…changelings…" Princess Cadance said with a wince.

The normal Princess Cadance sighed. "That's…fine. I guess. I doubt they will remain secret much longer after today anyway."

Both the prince and princess let out a huge sigh of relief.

Turning her attention to Dash, the normal sized princess approached and said, "It's a great pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash. You are a lot like the pegasus equivalent of Twi and I would be unable to live with myself if you were not involved in the future of our species."

More than a little confused, Dash said, "Thanks… um… I don't know your name."

"Really? I'm Princess Cadance. You can just call me Cadance if you wish. I was so sure that I signed my letter."

"Wait, but they said–"

It started with snickers but quickly the pair at the opposite side of the table burst into wild laughter. The new Cadance merely facehoofed.

"I see that my daughter and nephew have been playing a prank on you. Please accept my apologies."

Instantly, all the pieces fell into place.

"Oh, I see how it is. Good work, you two little rascals. I completely fell for it." – Dash paused to make sure her counter prank was worded just right – "The kiss was especially effective."

"The kiss!" Cadance gushed.

_Not the reaction I expected._

Across the table the two foals were cringing and trying not to look towards Cadance.

_But good enough apparently._

Cadance squeed, "You two are going to have to tell me all about it tonight!"

"Mom! It's not like that!"

"Really, it's not!" the dragon added.

"Oh, young love. So innocent and embarrassing. I remember my first date with Shining. He was just so cute and bashful about the whole thing. Ah, good times."

After recovering from her dreamy state, Cadance continued, "Anyway, this is Star Charmer and Spike. My daughter and nephew respectively. Spike is Twi's– That is, he's Archmage Twilight's son."

"Ha! I knew you were familiar somehow! You two are Scootaloo's new friends, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," Spike answered.

"It's so nice that she's moving to Canterlot. There's never really anypony our age around the castle. At least, nopony that's not a prick in training."

"Star Charmer," said Cadance sternly, glaring at her daughter.

"…Sorry," Star Charmer mumbled.

"You know better than to talk like that. Even if it's true."

Cadance smiled and Star Charmer joined her soon after, both sharing a quick laugh. In this intimate, mother-daughter moment, Spike decided to belch. Surprisingly, it turned into a green flame and that turned into a large stack of parchment.

"Bleh… Star Charmer, I think we have mail from the crusaders."

"Ooh!"

"Why don't you two go find somewhere nearby to go read those letters. Rainbow Dash and I have a lot to talk about and I doubt it would be very interesting for you."

"Okay!" both foals chorused and ran out the door with Spike carrying everything.

As soon as the door closed, Cadance said, "They're just adorable, aren't they?"

"They've got serious talent for pranks. That's for sure."

"Well, with them out of our manes, we should get down to business. Would you mind telling me what page you went to before page two?"

"…Four. But I peeked at five and at the very end. How many spies did you put on me to get all that information?"

"Absolutely none," Cadance said, her expression the picture of innocence. "I just asked a friend to ask some friends in Ponyville why you kept refusing Captain Spitfire's invitations. It's not like you're a very subtle pony."

Dash merely grumbled in response.

"Heh, try not to be so upset. You're going to be at the front of a sort of rebirth for pegasii in Equestria. Why, in a decade or two, the Wonderbolts will find it an honor to fly with _you_."

"Yeah, whatever. This is where you stick me in a dress, tie up my mane, and expect me to have an apple on my desk every day."

"That wouldn't be very practical. Well, except maybe the mane part, but I don't really care about that."

"Huh?"

"Listen, pegasus magic is a lot different than unicorn magic. They both need hooves-on experience and bookwork, but unicorns need more of the later while pegasii need more of the former. …Well, I think Twi might disagree with that a bit…or a lot…or just tell me I'm an idiot and that the unicorn schools are just as bad as the pegasus ones… Ugh, her filly years were weird.

"Why don't I just start over. We're trying to make things more hooves-on for our pegasus foals. More like Wonderbolts training but without the militarism."

"Really? I always hated school but that's– that's just fantastic."

"I'm glad you're excited. We're planning to have you teach the advanced stuff since you've got a lot of tricks that nopony else has really bothered learning. You can teach whatever you want, however you want, so long as you document what you're doing for future teachers."

Dash had unknowingly taken to hovering over the table. When Cadance mentioned documenting things, she finally noticed and flew back to her seat and tried to play it cool.

Leaning on a forehoof resting on the table, Dash idly played with her other forehoof and deadpanned, "I suppose I might actually enjoy this if you're gonna let us fly around all day like that."

Giggling as she spoke, Cadance said, "It's not quite that simple, Rainbow Dash. You are expected to get results from your lessons. If what you're doing doesn't work, you _will_ have to try something else. Ask other teachers for advice. Change how you do things.

"Remember that this is an experiment to improve pegasus education. We can't tell you what to do because we don't know what's best or even approximately best. But we can tell you when you're doing something wrong."

"Yeah, yeah. But you know all about how well Scootaloo's been doing. Trust me. My methods work just fine."

"I can only hope so. Anyway, we're only going to pull the early grades to begin with, so you can expect fewer students to start out. You might be asked to help out with some of the more elementary classes once and a while, but–"

"Yep. Basics are important. Gotta drill that stuff into their heads when they're young. No probs there."

Nodding, Cadance added, "I can guarantee that we won't ask you to teach anything but magic and flight classes. …I've seen your grades."

"Um, thanks I guess."

"Well anyway, before I forget, would you like to join the foals and I for dinner? I have this sneaking suspicion that you'll be seeing a lot more of them in the future. Maybe go for a flight afterward to talk some more?"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds fun."

* * *

Index had just returned from Sweet Apple Acres after testing the other two crusaders while pretending she had not seen what they were doing and, begrudgingly, the entire Apple family. Fortunately or not, Loyalty and Laughter seemed to be rather picky elements.

Pinkie Pie was sprawled out on the ground holding the map of Ponyville in the air and turning it randomly back and forth. The simple glow spell Index had placed on it made it streak through the air with the sun already beyond the horizon and the moon in the sky.

"So?" Index asked. "Who's left?"

"Nopony. Except Ponyvillians not currently in Ponyville. That still makes them Ponyvillians, right? Hey, now that I think about it, that word's pretty weird. Ponyvillians. Pony villians. Pony villains. Just swap the a and the i. Crazy, huh? Perhaps an omen?"

"No, Pinkie, it's not. So you're telling me we've tested every pony from Ponyville currently here?"

"Yep!"

"And we haven't found either bearer."

"Yep!"

"Great… Well, I guess it's time to start testing other ponies. That should be easy enough. At this time of night they should all be getting ready for bed or otherwise occupied in their places of sleep. Especially with a storm coming. Except those at Berry Punch's tavern, I suppose."

"That's perfect! What better place to find adventurers to take part in our epic quest? Maybe you'll even meet a wizened old stallion with a huge, long, gray beard that will give us some sort of side quest that actually turns out to be important to our main one because we get some magical quest item that–"

Filtering Pinkie Pie out with a bit of magic, Index pulled the updated dossier she had gotten from Berry Nectar and opened it up to the pages listing temporary residencies for ponies from out-of-town. It seemed that with a few exceptions, most everypony not from Ponyville was being crammed into the few inns already fully constructed.

"I'll take you home," Index said to Pinkie Pie, barely looking up from the folder as she dispelled her Pinkie Filter.

_Hmm… I wonder how mad Celestia would be if I trademarked 'Pinkie Filter'. Probably very._

Putting that idea to the back of her mind with a shake of her head, Index continued, "Then I'll finish up on my own. Get a good night's sleep. We're going to do some group bonding tomorrow, even if it's just the four of us sitting around in Manehattan while I bump elements against ponies. And we're most likely going to need a buffer between Lyra and I, so be prepared."

"I'm always ready for group bonding! Should I make a picnic tonight to bring with us?"

"Yeah, sure," said Index idly. "Whatever's fine."

* * *

An armorless Flash trudged through Ponyville towards the Prancing Pony. He had heard that the tavern had managed to conjure up a few barrels of the world famous Apple cider and he was looking forward to having a drink. And buck the expense. Today had not been a good day and his every fiber called out to relive those golden memories of the pint his parents had bought him on admission to the royal guard.

In just half a day, Flash had determined that the captain had sent him on an impossible mission. Somehow, Index Code already managed to hospitalize herself for _days_, and was currently missing in action.

To make things worse, it seemed that everypony in town was half-insane or ready to be shipped off to an asylum. After all, what kind of sane pony would treat town-leveling disasters as weekly occurrences? Like they were just part of the weather for which you just needed to remember to bring an umbrella.

Swinging open the tavern door, Flash quickly located the purple barkeep and took what must have been the only available stool in the entire building.

"What's your poison?" the mare asked.

Slumping into the counter, Flash replied, "Just some Apple cider."

"You sure about that, hun? That stuff's practically worth its weight in magic right now."

"Yeah. How much?"

"The going rate's two thousand bits a pint" – Flash's jaw fought to go through the counter it rested on – "but I seem to be in a generous mood with all this business and you're obviously way down in the dumps. I suppose I could let a pint go for half that if you tell me what's wrong."

"Really? Thanks a lot. That's the first good thing that's happened all day."

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound good at all. One moment and we'll talk your troubles away."

_Oh…what _can _I tell her? I didn't really think ahead on this one…_

_I guess some of the truth will work._

The mare returned with a frothing cup of what might as well have been that ambrosia drink everypony said Princess Celestia drank with how appealing it appeared and she set it down in front of him.

Flash reached for his saddlebags he had let fall to the floor when the mare said, "You can pay later. Consider it on your tab for now. So, what's bringing you down?"

After taking a greedy drink, Flash restrained himself from downing the cider in one go. It was as amazing as he remembered and he had every intention of nursing it the entire night.

Finally replying, Flash said, "It's a lot of things, I guess. This town isn't helping."

"Ah," the mare said, obviously sympathetic. "This is your first visit to Ponyville, isn't it?"

Flash just nodded weakly.

"Well, I suppose I can only say you get used to it. You didn't have a run in with Pinkie, did you?"

"Who?"

"That's a no. Don't worry about her then. What are those other problems?"

"There's this mare–"

"Ooh. Do tell."

Blushing and thinking of Twilight, Flash shook his head. "We can talk about my love problems later if you really want, but this is a totally different pony. I…I can't really say too much. I'm a royal guard and I can't reveal private information."

"I've heard that before."

Despite the teasing tone, Flash couldn't help feel a bit flustered as he said, "It's true!"

"Heh. I never said I didn't believe you. We get a few stray guards to help out Ponyville every other week or so – your saddlebags gave you away. So you see, I have heard that before."

"Very funny," said Flash with a roll of his eyes. "Anyways, so there's this mare that I'm supposed to be working on something important with, but I can't find her _anywhere_ in this town. It's like she just up and vanished this morning.

"I just spent the entire day in an exercise in futility looking for her and couldn't find hide nor hair of her. For all I know, she could be lying in a ditch somewhere bleeding to death. And it'd be _really bad_ beyond just whatever happened to her if she were put out of commission or worse!"

Feeling _very_ awkward with dozens of eyes on him, Flash calmed down and added, "But I've also been warned that she likes her privacy, so I don't know what to think at all."

Flash sighed as the bartender thoughtfully wiped down a mug with a dishcloth. For a brief moment, Flash wondered if she practiced eliciting the essence of bartending in her manner or if it came naturally.

"They say that no news is good news, but I'm sure that's not what you want to hear. You should try asking Rarity or Pinkie Pie. The former lives on the south side of town at the Carousel Boutique and usually knows what's going on in town. The later is… Well, let's just say she also usually knows what's going on in town. She lives at the Sugarcube Corner."

_That's where Index Code is staying… Hmm… _"Thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it."

"No problem at all. I sort of feel like I owe you anyway. This huge boom in business is all from of the festival and from Ar– Twilight visiting me. Doing my part to help the nation back, you know. Return the favor."

"Whoa, what? You're friends with" – Flash stumbled over the name and blushed a bit – "with Twilight?"

An evil smile grew on the mare as she said, "I would say more acquaintances, really. Turns out that's enough to double your store's popularity. But I wouldn't have pegged you as the type to have a crush on her."

The closest Flash came to a dignified response was to bury his head in his hooves and wings.

Suddenly with a more serious tone, the mare said, "You should hurry up and make your move or you'll never have a chance."

"…What do you mean?"

"She and I have a friend in common. Last night when we were… Um… Let me start over so I don't sound weird. Last night another friend and I were talking, and we're both pretty sure that Twilight is crushing on that friend we have in common."

After momentarily choking on his drink, Flash asked "Who is it?"

"I really shouldn't say. But you have _serious_ competition for her affections."

"Please tell me," Flash begged. "Please."

"I'm sorry. It really isn't my place to say for a number of reasons."

"I see," sighed Flash. "Thanks for the warning at least."

"You're welcome. I can really see why having a crush on her would be difficult though. I take it you actually get to see her once and a while too, right?"

Crossing a sigh with a laugh, Flash said, "Fleetingly. I actually know her older brother much, _much_ better."

"Oh? Is that an in or a burden?"

"Neither, it would seem. He refuses to help but he's not interfering either. I suppose I should be grateful just for that. He's well known for being overprotective of his sister."

"All the better if she's so well-loved by her family. After all, if you win, you'll be part of it and be just as filled with love, lover colt."

Flash's smile was interrupted by a weird feeling. If he were not a royal guardspony, he probably would have dismissed it or would not have noticed. It was as if he had been brushed with something smooth and hard.

Turning around he looked to find the source of the feeling and quite unexpectedly found Index Code looking at him from across the room, a look of relief on her face.

For a brief moment.

It only took a second before Index Code's eyes seemed to flash through recognition straight into some mix of horror and anger.

"Oh, come on!" Index Code shouted. Then turning to nopony in particular – or perhaps a stallion but she was not really looking at him – she yelled, "You think this is real funny, don't you?"

The entire tavern had frozen and the now very nervous stallion that had gotten the full brunt of Index Code's shouting hazarded, "N-No?"

Ignoring the stallion, Index Code cross the tavern and walked straight up to Flash.

"You. You are coming with me."

The way Index Code said that was awfully familiar. It was not a request. It was not a command. It was just a fact.

Flash nodded in a stupor and from behind him the bartender whispered, "Come back later to get the rest of your drink. And talk some more I'm sure."

Following Index Code who had left without another word, Flash found himself outside and led through the streets of Ponyville to the outskirts where nopony was around. At least, nopony awake and on the road.

Taking a side turn into an alley, Flash felt himself yanked and disoriented. When his senses returned, he found himself in a lush, green field of untamed grasses. Canterlot was clearly visible in the distance, as was the small mountain range somewhat near Ponyville.

As soon as he made eye contact with Index Code, she tossed a gold necklace with a red gem shaped like a shield embedded in it at him. He managed to awkwardly catch it with one wing. Flash was usually not one for jewelry – never actually – but he had to admit that there was something about this necklace that made him want to put it on and never take it off.

As if on cue to his thoughts, Index Code said, "Put it on. That's Loyalty. It's yours now."

Not needing to be told to do something twice – especially not now – Flash pulled Loyalty off of his wing and fiddled with the clasps until he managed to unbuckle it and get it around his neck. As soon as he properly wore Loyalty, he felt an odd tingle from it.

He also felt several small pulls on himself. Not from Loyalty, but on his body in general. None of them were strong enough to move him. It did not really feel like that kind of pull. They were more like a weak buzz in the back of his head than anything else.

A weak one went in the vague direction of Ponyville if Flash had his bearings right. A large number were pointed straight towards Canterlot. But the strongest by far was aimed directly in front of him at Index Code.

Index Code who was currently absorbed in those strange breathing exercises he had occasionally seen Princess Cadance and Twilight partake in. Oddly enough, the mere thought of Twilight was bringing that weird pull towards Index Code to the forefront of his mind.

Once finished, she said, "I'm not even going to try hiding myself from you. I know it would be a pointless effort."

With a burst of magical light from her horn, Index melted away. Flash had seen the rare EIS member and royal guard perform similar magic but it was still creepy and caused him to jump and scold himself.

_I'm a royal guard! I should be better than this!_

Stunned by what he saw, Flash could only think, …_Apparently I'm not…_

Twilight was standing in front of him, as beautiful as ever. Even in her rage.

She looked at him for a moment before she facehoofed and muttered, "Shining, I am going to kill you."

Sighing, Twilight slipped back into the colder tone Flash knew she used for formal conversation and said, "Can I assume that your presence in Ponyville means you have been briefed on the return of Luna, a.k.a. Nightmare Moon?"

Standing up straighter and saluting, Flash replied, "Yes, your excellency. Captain Armor gave me the details before I left."

"Very well. I shall keep this short then as I still have other tasks that await my presence tonight. You have been given The Element of Loyalty – affectionately called Loyalty for short – one of six similar magical artifacts that make up The Elements of Harmony which are capable of vanquishing Nightmare Moon.

"Any orders you currently possess are to be disregarded. Please inform _whoever_ sent you here that you are no longer able to preform your duties. Further, while you are…in Ponyville or elsewhere when I am in disguise, you shall refer to me as Index and keep my identity to yourself. You will also keep the true identity of Nightmare Moon a secret as well.

"And while you are near a white, pink, and purple unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle, you will not connect me with the name Twilight Sparkle in your thoughts nor Nightmare Moon with Luna. She possess the ability to read minds. If you know another language, use it to think. She currently only knows Modern Equestrian.

"Like every other element, you shall experience a small magical boost from wearing Loyalty. You may also summon it back to you, however instructions on how to do so shall wait until all four other bearers are gathered – possibly tomorrow. Feel free to experiment in the meanwhile.

"Loyalty also has three other abilities you shall wish to be aware of. The first two are passive abilities. You are no doubt already experiencing one of them, which should manifest as an abstract pull towards ponies you have a relationship with. From your perspective."

Those last three words seemed particularly bitter to Flash, but they did little to stop Twilight's lecture.

"The stronger the pull, the stronger the relationship. From your perspective"

_I can't help but feel she's not happy about me being here._

"The second passive ability is a danger sense for ponies on the other end of those pulls. Be aware that this is a subjective danger sense. It triggers if and only if the pony in question feels that they are in danger.

"The last ability is extraordinarily practical. Loyalty allows you to teleport anywhere within…I can not remember the exact range, but roughly five meters of a pony you have a significantly strong enough relationship with. From your perspective. This is not limited by distance.

"This is all confidential information until further notice. I shall also be casting an illusion on Loyalty before we return so that nopony will be able to see it as you are unable to do so yourself.

"Now, The Elements of Harmony are powered by friendship and other positive relationships. I shall _try_ to enjoy your company, but I shall make this perfectly clear right now.

"I. Am not. Dating you.

"Understood?"

"Crystal," Flash said. _For now._

Twilight relaxed immediately with a sigh and Flash took that as his cue to do so as well.

"Well, that said, do you have any questions?"

"Just one…Twilight?"

One of Twilight's eyes and ears twitched, but she said, "You may feel free to call me that when I am undisguised. Was that your question?"

"No. I was wondering if…"

"…If?"

"…If you know my name?"

"I do not."

"Oh…" _I suppose it's not like anypony every told me otherwise. Including Captain Armor._

Twilight seemed to be looking expectantly at Flash, so he said, "It's Flash Sentry. I prefer to go by Flash."

"I will remember it. Now I have a question for you. Which direction is Loyalty's strongest pull for you?"

_What? I can't answer that! If I say it's her, she'll just get mad! If I don't, it's all over and she might get mad anyway!_

After at least thirty seconds of biting his lip and thinking about what to say, Twilight said, "I suppose this is a difficult question for you to answer. I promise not to get upset with whatever you say and will not take your answer into account in our future interactions to the best of my ability. I merely wish to know to determine how to best use the elements."

Flash's eyebrows went up and he said, "That's a far cry from throwing me out a window."

"You–" Twilight shouted before calming down. "I am trying to be friendly. I've already got one bearer that I hate who hates me in return. I don't need another."

"…I would never hate my strongest pull." _Okay, that was super cheesy._

Flash looked back at Twilight to see her blushing and averting her eyes.

_But apparently super effective. One point for leaving the friend zone._

"R-Right. I'll take us back to Ponyville," Twilight said as she turned herself back into Index. "I'll be gathering the other bearers together tomorrow and we're _all_ going to be spending time together for the next two weeks."

* * *

_Argh! Celestia, why did you have to bring up sex at the start of this quest? I can't stop thinking about what he does at night when nopony's around!_

_Argh! And what if other ponies are doing it? Pinkie Pie said I was popular _everywhere_._

_No, no, no, no, no! Stop thinking about it, Twilight! Think about something else! Anything!_

_Um… Um… Luna! What's she up to? Noooo! No good. Now I can't stop thinking about shapeshifter sex! Celestiaaaaaaaa!_

No matter how many times Index magiced away her blush, it always turned red immediately after. Fortunately, there was nopony around to see her ineffectual battle with herself as she wandered through the temporary buildings of Ponyville.

_Oh no! Sweetie Belle…isn't old enough for that…I hope. This is the worst!_

_Ugh! What if Luna's trying to seduce me? That's– I don't even have words to describe how horrifying that is! I couldn't compete with an ancient princess of the _night_! She'd have me in bed before I knew what I was happening!_

_No! Keep it together, Twilight! This is a panic attack. We _know _it's a panic attack. Don't succumb to it! Just don't think about what a pony with centuries more social experience could do to you._

_Like melt you with a well timed whisper in the ear. Or pull out those repressed corners of our mind that we ignore. Or the fact that we've somehow managed to get ourself aroused._

_Magic it away, Twilight. Just like always._

With a flash of her horn, Index quickly refreshed her polymorph _again_, removing both her blush and her hormonal problems.

For at most a second.

Nothing that judicious repetition could not fix.

_Okay, Twilight. Deep breaths in-between polymorphs. Just like Cadance taught you. We can get through this._

_Luna's not going to seduce you._

_If she tries, we aren't a slave to our hormones._

_Sweetie Belle doesn't think of us that way._

_Shapeshifting confers an advantage to copulation but we don't care._

_What other ponies do with their thoughts is their own business._

_What Flash does when I am sufficiently far away has nothing to do with me._

_Repeat until calm._

After an embarrassingly large number of repetitions, Index dispelled the illusion she had hastily constructed to make sure nopony saw her cycling between Index and Twilight. Once again she was calm enough to function with only a minor blush.

_Okay. I'm good. One more pony tonight and then I can…not go to bed and face Luna. I'll skip that tonight and accept being tired after midday tomorrow._

_Now if only that last pony weren't an illusionist that hates me…_

Index paused to think about what she just had thought.

_Maaaaybe I should just skip Trixie._

Just as Index was about to turn and leave, something bounced harmlessly off of her passive shields and broke on the ground. Suppressing her urge to reflexively teleport away, Index turned around to find a hatted, but cloakless, Trixie wobbling towards her with a mostly full bottle of wine. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that what she had been hit with was another wine bottle. Presumably an empty one.

Underneath the incredibly drunken slur, Trixie said, "What are you doing here, Sparklebutt?"

Index took a casual glance at her foreleg.

_Yep, still yellow._ "I'm not–"

"Don't even try to deny it! Trixie'd never forget a face! You look just like that bucking teal version of you Trixie ran into earlier!"

_Does– Does she mean Lyra Heartstrings? I'm pretty sure we look nothing alike._

"Trixie–"

"No! Trixie's not falling for it!" After nearly falling over and taking another swig of wine, Trixie continued, "Who else would bother showing up to humiliate me over and over again as multiple ponies? Well, two can play at that game!"

In perhaps the worst display of casting while drinking Index had ever seen, Trixie finally managed to polymorph herself into a crude version of Twilight while managing to preserve her inebriation. Honestly, Twilight was rather impressed considering the circumstances.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle! The high and mighty student of Princess…um…not that jerk…um…Celestia! Yeah. Princess Celestia! I'm way too good at everything to even recognize when a pony's talking to me!"

"Fine, I'll play along," Index sighed. _It's not like she's going to remember tonight anyway. She's so drunk she's talking in third person. _"You caught me. I had a hot air balloon ready with twenty zebras in it for an elaborate practical joke on you, but you're just too smart for me."

"Ah ha!" Trixie said as she reverted to her base form. "You admit it! You couldn't fool The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

_Maybe I _should _just knock her out for both of our sakes…_

Predictably, The Drunk and Unbalanced Trixie fell over onto her back on the road when she tried to pose on her hindlegs. Index blushed rather furiously at the pose Trixie ended up in as her mind drifted back to her earlier thoughts.

_Don't start down that road again, Twilight. It's not the pony way to be bothered by something like this._

"Ehem. Would you like some help?" Index asked to distract herself.

"Trixie doesn't want any help from _you_! Trixie would never be able to forgive herself!"

Once Trixie had stumbled back to her hooves, she slurred, "And what's that thing you're holding? It better not be another thingy to humiliate Trixie with."

Index's eyebrow went up causing Trixie to roll her eyes. Before Index could react, Trixie wrenched Laughter from her magic and sloppily brute forced all of the spells on it away, brining it in front of her eyes.

"What the? Why are you carrying around a rock?" – Trixie's eyes lit up in recognition – "Oh, I see! It's not enough for you to humiliate Trixie! You were going to hit her with this since you missed her yesterday!"

Trixie threw Laughter down into the ground hard enough to crack the road and bury it up to a quarter of its height.

"Ha! That's another one of your plans that The Omniscient Trixie has foiled!"

Facehoofing, Index said, "Trixie, you– I don't even know. You're _so_ drunk. Fine. You've defeated me. Just give me that back and I'll be on my way."

"No!" Trixie shouted, stomping her hoof down on top of Laughter only to topple over into a face-plant. "Argh! Trixie's blind! Curse you Sparklebutt! Trixie'll have her reven–"

Trixie choose that exact moment to vomit. Fortunately for Index, she was busy keeping her eyes closed from Laughter awakening and did not see it.

_Well, so much for skipping Trixie… Oh well. It seems like all she wants is some attention. I can certainly give her that._

Upon opening her eyes, Index found Trixie still on her side on the ground with a disgusting, liquid mess next to her head. Her hoof was wedged in a weird way in the hole she had made with the gold part of Laughter peeking out underneath it.

"Trixie, how much did you drink? Trixie?"

_Great, she's passed out and she sleeps with her eyes open. Charming…_

_I really don't want to deal with her tonight. I'll just let her sleep this off in my bed while I go do other things._

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

One point to anyone who correctly identifies which government Equestria's is based upon. It shouldn't be too hard. Two points to anyone who correctly identifies the inspiration for Poppycock. Hint: The reference to 'parliament' way back in chapter three was renamed to 'the senate' (though mostly because I decided it sounds better).

If you haven't read A New Land in the side stories, I'm working with two bits to the cherry or roughly four bits to the US dollar. Out-of-season Apple cider is expensive to say the least. Fortunately, the royal guard pays well.

By the way, in case you're in doubt, this is going to be a _long_ story.


	10. Chapter Nine - The Next Morning

Twilight teleported to the exact coordinates Celestia had given her after checking her spellwork no less than six times. While she still held onto Laughter for The Drunk and Probably Drooling Trixie, the Everfree was no joke and she was not interested in being torn apart into her component parts during arrival on the off chance Laughter would not protect her.

A few steps away, Celestia was concentrating on a binding spell, though Twilight was not interested in prodding the magic to find out which one in particular. Next to her, Daisy sat up against the walls of the old castle in a manner similar to Lyra, staring out into the forest. A book lay at her side on top of the grass and Twilight smiled when she saw it was a book of spells.

Beyond her stood a changeling of such impressive stature that she could only be one person.

"Hello, Queen Chrysalis," Twilight said as she summoned Magic from Daisy's head to her own. "I was not expecting to see you here. What happened?"

"A great fool nearly killed one of my children, and an even greater fool presented her to the senate."

Turning towards Celestia, Twilight suggested, "Luna?"

"Unlikely; she was never much one for forethought. But sadly that argument runs both ways. Unfortunately, investigation into the affairs of nobles is always an arduous undertaking so we do not know much yet. Even asking to borrow Honesty would do little to help; you know how liberally they use memory magic."

"I do," hissed Twilight, the venom of her voice practically lethal. _At least this is not my problem for once. _"Anyway, I need to have some private words with Celestia, if neither of you mind."

Getting the go ahead from Queen Chrysalis and Daisy, Twilight set up a slew of privacy wards, including an illusion that would keep Celestia and herself hidden inside an opaque bubble. Twilight had no doubt that the changeling queen could read lips if the mood struck her.

_I still need to find a way to block the changeling empathy sense. I suppose that's pretty low priority though. I should also put Esp in the same room as Pinkie Pie and compare their abilities. Pinkie Pie would be an excellent benchmark to measure changeling empathy abilities against. A sort of end goal for them. Although, they might not be able to develop that sense–_

Twilight felt herself pulled into a wing hug against Celestia, interrupting her train of thought and bringing back fond memories of nights spent together.

"Twilight, you really need to fix your habit of running off on whatever train of thought strikes your fancy." Celestia chuckled as Twilight fidgeted under her wing and added, "Although, it is _quite_ endearing. You make the cutest faces when you are lost in thought."

"Celestia, I didn't come here to talk about this…" Twilight said through her blush.

"No, but it _is_ true. Though, you shall have to forgive me if _I_ zone out at some point. The spells I am currently working on are simple but do occasionally require my attention."

After Celestia guided Twilight to a sitting position on the ground, still tucked away under her wing, Twilight whispered, "I can't remember the last time we sat together like this."

"Really?"

"No, not really." – Twilight leaned into Celestia – "It's just been a long time."

"It is too bad you can not use my wing as a tent anymore."

"I never–" Twilight started before descending into a mumble, "I never used it as a _tent_. It was a lean-to at worst."

Celestia hummed suggestively, as though there was no difference between the two.

"How has Ponyville been treating you? And more importantly, how have you been getting along with that sweet little filly?" teased Celestia.

"Oh. Um. Well. I kinda, sorta, maybe, may have made her my student."

"How sweet."

"Her name's Sweetie Belle actually. She reminds me a lot of myself, although she needs a helping hoof to push her down the right path. She's an endless barrel of questions and she learns at a respectable pace and by that I mean she _actually_ learns things and she _likes_ learning. She's gotten pretty far on her own too. We _could_ dump her somewhere halfway into your school's education and she'd probably do decently, but she has a chance at real greatness. I mean, it only took her like three hours to learn the flame sending spell with a crippled teacher _and_ she learned an illusion spell to visualize her magic in that same time _and_ she could get a letter all the way to Canterlot _and_–"

Celestia bopped Twilight on the nose with a hoof.

"I am happy you found a good student, Twilight. You do not need to justify your choice to me. Try not to break her."

Reflexively massaging her very not injured nose with her magic, Twilight said, "I already warned her about that."

"Multiple times, I would imagine."

"…Yes."

"And she still accepted," Celestia chuckled. "Training your replacement?"

"No. I wouldn't shove this job on Discord."

"Ah, well, have you found any more bearers yet?" – Celestia looked towards Laughter lying on the ground – "Besides Laughter's?"

"That's…actually what I wanted to talk about. I have them all assembled but it's…well, it's a train wreck."

"I see," sighed Celestia. "Has your relationship with…now that I think of it, you never told me the name of Honesty's bearer. Just that she is a seapony."

"Her name is Lyra Heartstrings. And no, it has not gotten any better. And I keep doing really petty things in revenge."

"Revenge for what?"

"I was _minding my own business_, just checking out what a polymorph was doing in town and she ran away. Naturally, I gave chase because that's _really_ suspicious and polymorphs are already predisposed towards mischief. Then when I caught up, she attacked me. She even put a hole through my leg with a stupid shield piercing attack from an unusual spell. I pretty much looked like a changeling with my injury!"

"Wait. She _injured_ you?"

"Yes! I wasn't expecting her to be…" – Twilight pulled her voice back down as she fumbled for words – "quite so good. So I didn't put as much effort into it as I should have at first."

"Twilight, I know you shall say that statistically the chances of running into talented ponies is very low, but you need to stop underestimating everypony you come across. You are so paranoid otherwise. Look at us now, wrapped up in a bundle of privacy wards next to an allied ruler _you_ told me to trust and a pony you trying to be friends with. Pick one folly and stick with it."

Celestia was not scolding, she was just lecturing. Twilight knew the difference very well. She took a deep breath to let Celestia's lesson sink in peacefully and let out a huge sigh.

_I hate it when she's right without actually picking a side to argue for._

"Have you apologized?"

"Huh?" Twilight said, having been distracted by Celestia's earlier words.

"Have you apologized? You at least recognize you are behaving in a petty manner. You need to apologize to Lyra Heartstrings."

"…I know. But that doesn't mean I want to. And besides, it won't mean anything to her. She has Honesty. She'll know I won't really mean it."

"Then tell her that."

Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Tell her I'm not sorry?"

Nodding, Celestia explained, "Your feelings can not be forced, Twilight. If you have no regrets then you have no regrets. But you know you have been unfair and you want to try being a better pony. In that, at least, you can be sincere.

"Too often the true purpose of an apology is lost on ponies. We do not apologize to relieve ourselves of regrets. Nor do we apologize to help a pony we have wronged. An apology is a promise to be a better pony in the future. Whatever else results, this is the essence of an apology."

"That" – Twilight hesitated – "seems more deeply wise than you should be able to pull out of the top of your head. Quoting yourself?"

"A complete stranger, actually. Besides you and Luna, I have nopony to speak heart to heart with nor do I have the time to form friendships in disguise. For what little they would be worth when I would have to hide everything about me including my problems."

Celestia pulled Twilight a little closer and continued, "Luna's banishment devastated me and I needed somepony with whom to talk. I teleported to Manehattan and picked the first pony I saw. I told him every relevant detail of my life and received that advice. I am afraid it did not help me much. Afterward, and I know you shall not like this, I erased his memory and left.

"I never asked if it was a quote myself."

_There's that pesky self-imposed guilt again… _"Celestia, I have to ask. Will you be alright when we confront Luna? If you need a shoulder to let it all out on or somepony to yell at, I'm right here."

"Thank you for your concern, Twilight. I shall preserve through it as I have these past one-thousand years. But you shall not deflect the subject like that. Will you apologize? And I mean really apologize."

Hiding under Celestia's wing – a habit from her filly years – Twilight muttered, "I guess…"

"Twilight," Celestia said in that accursed parenting tone used on misbehaving foals. A tone which always worked.

"Fine, I will. Happy?"

"I should be happier if I were not required to prod you to do so, but I suppose it is cute that you still act like a filly."

Twilight elbowed Celestia only to wince as she hit a bone. Celestia only chuckled in response.

"Now tell me about the rest of the bearers in your 'train wreck' and I shall see what wisdom I can offer you."

Smiling weakly while rubbing her elbow with magic, Twilight said, "Well, going in the order I found them in, the next one would be Sweetie Belle."

"Oh? Before or after you asked her to be your student?"

"Both, I guess. I was seriously considering it before and when she got Generosity, my decision was made for me."

"Oh dear. She has Generosity? How old is she?"

"I never asked specifically, but I would guess eleven or twelve. She is adjusting well. I saw her playing with her friends yesterday…err…" – Twilight pulled out a watch from her bag of holding – "Yes, it would be yesterday by now. She was playing – for certain definitions of the word – with them and seemed to be doing fine. She had a little trouble when I got near the three of them, but she'll probably be able to _tolerate_ being around all the bearers today."

"Did she tell her friends?"

"Yes. We had a quick chat and she said they didn't mind. It was interesting to learn that the one I didn't know much about got accepted to Cadance's new school. I imagine we're going to have to introduce a few laws concerning crusader activities in the castle in the future."

"Are they really that bad?"

"Hmm… We probably won't need anything _worse_ than the Twilight Regulations you introduced…"

"Are you still upset about that?"

"A little bit. You could have just made them ground rules or something. You didn't need to make them actual laws."

"I think it got the point across better than a stern word and a disappointed look ever could."

"Whatever," Twilight pouted. "I'm just glad they're gone. Anyway, the next bearer I found was for Kindness. We have a backup too. The proper bearer is…Pinkie Pie."

Resting against Celestia as she was, Twilight could feel a tiny tremor run through the princess's body.

"You're right to be afraid. Fortunately, she seems stable enough and not about to go on a 'make everypony completely happy' spree. I can only hope she doesn't start playing matchmaker either or I'll never get a respite from her."

"You found a special somepony? No, silly question. Somepony else likes you and you are aware of it?"

"Oh, that reminds me to chew you out about that. Why didn't you tell me I'm popular?"

"Twilight," Celestia said in the tone of voice that could only be described as 'eternal patience', "most ponies do not need to be told when they are popular. I thought even you had noticed and just did not care."

"I don't care," Twilight firmly denied. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to know. You could have at least dropped hints or something."

"Perhaps. But would you have noticed them?"

Shuffling under Celestia's wing, Twilight answered, "…No. Probably not."

"Well, there you go."

"Fine," Twilight sighed. "Pinkie Pie is friends with everypony so even if I am terrified of her, she's probably the least problematic of the group. Except for Sweetie Belle.

"Next is…ugh…Loyalty. That stupid element decided to pick Flash Sentry."

Twilight was interrupted by some _very_ unprincessly laughter. Laughter to the point that Celestia almost lost control of her ongoing spellwork.

"Oh, Twilight. I– I do not know what to say to that. At least he likes you already."

"A little too much," grumbled Twilight.

"At least now you know you never have to worry about him disliking you. He is the bearer for Loyalty after all."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. You know, you explicitly wrote that Loyalty teleports through _all_ wards. Even the ones that block alicorns you're putting up here. Which I may or may not be sneaking a peak at sometime soon."

"I am afraid not, Twilight. Those are going up last. Luna and I agreed long ago that we would not answer questions about that to anypony. For reasons we are going to demonstrate on the solstice amongst others."

"Very well," Twilight said, a dash of melancholy in her tone. "Anyway, it would be horrible if he had Generosity. At least he can only teleport to me _anywhere_ at _anytime_. Any advice?"

"Well, when a mare and a stallion love–"

"Any _useful_ advice? Particularly with getting him to not blow my cover to Sweetie Belle?"

"You have not told them?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't want to deal with that hanging over our relationships. At least, with whom I can avoid it."

"You need to tell them, Twilight. Not for any particular sense of moral duty, but simply because it is impossible for you to hide your identity. The elements have an astonishing number of ways for their bearers to discover that information for themselves. That you have hid it at all under the conditions you are working with is nothing short of amazing if you have spent any real time together as a group."

"But you're the master of this trade and I've only learned a bit from watching you! You should–"

"And what trade might that be?" inquired Celestia.

"You know. The invisible hoof. The chessmaster. That kind of stuff. You must have _some_ idea."

"Is that really…" sighed Celestia. "Of course that is how you see me. Twilight, the best plans are simple plans. The more complex the plan, the more room you need to allow for failure. The reason I excel at…plotting…is because I have thousands of connections, centuries of experience, and above all, the time to gently nudge things in the right direction.

"You, on the other hoof, have a rather complex set of lies or half-truths to maintain and you are in a rush. There are a million ways your scheme could go wrong for every way it could go right

"For instance, I read in…I can not remember which appendix it was in, but you wrote that Pinkie Pie was extraordinarily observant. If your name is so much as mentioned in both her and Flash Sentry's company, she will see his emotions spike. All she has to do then is check what relationships are connecting the two of you."

"So then I just tell her not to do that. Besides, she already knows."

"Is it just Pinkie Pie and Flash Sentry that already know?" – Twilight nodded – "Alright, but continuing with the example, would you honestly be able to say she would not notice the looks he would give you."

"I told him not to do that. More or less."

Shaking her head, Celestia said, "Not everypony is as…uninterested in other ponies as you are, Twilight. They can not help themselves. At this point, you have overburdened your scheme with far too many requirements that must go right. There are too many points of failure and any single failure ruins everything."

"But–"

"If you are about to protest, citing Pinkie Pie's prior knowledge, do not bother. They _will_ find out, Twilight. I could spend all night coming up with scenarios that you would have to keep explaining away. Even if each point of failure had a probability of a fraction of a percent of occurring, there are too many that must be avoided. It will not work. Do the math if you do not believe me."

Heaving a sigh, Twilight acquiesced. "Fine. I defer to your expertise. I'll tell them tomorrow morning and hope I can get Trixie to not tell me to go to Tartarus."

"Trixie? You mean Beatrix?" The tone of Celestia's voice made it obvious she was happy for Trixie.

"Well, full name Beatrix Lulamoon, but yes it's the same pony that you had to expel. She ended up with Laughter."

"Twilight…you said Lulamoon…right?" Celestia said, dreadfully serious.

"…Yes?"

"Did she have a staff with her?" When Twilight nodded, Celestia asked, "Blue and silver?" – Twilight nodded again, more nervously under Celestia's worried eyes – "Star and moon on top?"

With on final nod from Twilight, Celestia said, "Lulamoon is not a name, Twilight. It is a title. It descends from ancient Germaneighia when I was still young and is a portmanteau of Lula – which is a diminutive form of Louise which is in turn the feminine version of Louis – and moon. It more or less means famous moon warrior."

To Celestia's words, there was only one appropriate response for Twilight.

"Horseapples!"

* * *

Index appeared just outside Lyra Heartstrings's bedroom door and was quite definitely not upset, bursting down her door, or otherwise whisking her away to deal with Trixie. Celestia had made sure of it and Chrysalis and Daisy had helped distract Index with work.

_Okay, okay. I _have_ to do this,_ Index thought as she stared down the door. _Interrogation is so much easier with a truth detector than without._

Index sighed. _Maybe I should wait until after we've dealt with Trixie._

_No, I need to talk to Trixie as Twilight first and only if I'm going to have _any_ chance of making this work without killing her; she would just blow up at me if I claimed I wasn't Twilight and then revealed I am._

_Hmm… I wonder when the elements consider somepony dead. I could stop her heart for a while or polymorph her, wreck her body, and reverse the changes before her magic disperses._

_But the elements are _magical_ artifacts. So they probably consider a pony dead when their magic is gone. I can't fix that._

Twilight turned around to face away from the door.

_Still, it wouldn't hurt to try while she's still knocked out. And if it works then I can substitute Flash Sentry _and_ Lyra Heartstrings for somepony else thus solving all my problems forever._

_I could probably get Pinkie Pie to agree to give up her element, but Rarity was right. I really do need a friendship expert. Although, she'd be able to do that just as well without Kindness._

_But… Ugh… Fluttershy isn't exactly an improvement. It would probably take me a whole day to find a second replacement in tandem with the other replacements. I don't have the time to keep trying until I strike Sweetie Belles._

_Wait. Time out, Twilight. You're doing this wrong. Perform the quick, easy check _first_, then try to figure out what to do with the results._

_Oh, Note to Self: if the element doesn't revert to how it was before or otherwise change, we have to wake up Trixie to confirm if it is still bound to her or not._

_But what if pseudo-death messes up the connection without actually severing it? Then I've got a huge problem that can _only_ be resolved by _actually_ killing her. Or it could permanently damage the elements, but that seems unlikely._

_I don't have time to set up some elaborate scheme to make her break the connection the way Celestia lost hers, and I can't just tell her to do something bad because Laughter would almost certainly recognize it as coercion and not part of her character._

_I could cause us some real problems by experiment with the elements before Luna returns_ – With a burst of flame, a letter appeared in front of Twilight – _but I suppose it wouldn't be anything unfixable. It would just be that the only solution I would have time for is unpleasant._

_I wish I knew more about the elements so I could make an actual judgment call about this and do some rough probability estimates._

Sighing, Index floated the letter she had let fall to her eyes. It read, "Have you apologized yet?"

Index sent a response on the back with a roll of her eyes that only said, "No."

In a suspiciously short amount of time, as if Celestia had prepared the letter in advance, a follow up letter arrived and read, "Do you want me to hold your hoof?" In addition to the words, a small image depicting the hypothetical scene was placed on the lower right corner.

_I wish I could imbue pure sarcasm into a letter_, thought Index as she sent off a reply which said, "No, mom." _I never should have gone to Celestia for advice. It seems I don't really have a choice in the matter anymore._

Turning around, Index faced Lyra Heartstrings's door once more and moaned. Inelegantly, Index thought, _This sucks_, as she stared straight forward and turned to examining the door's features.

It was wooden, for one. Based on the hue and grain, probably mahogany or some similar wood used in imitation. When she looked closely, there was actually a pretty interesting swirl pattern on the wood she never saw on doors in Canterlot Castle.

"Probably an imitation," mused Index as another letter came.

The letter read, "Have you apologized yet?" Flipping the parchment over quickly, the other said had the word no on it.

_What? This is the same–_

Grumbling to nopony, Index returned the parchment after appending, "I'm getting to it," to the backside. It was not long after the last ashes had disappeared before that all-too-familiar light filled the hallway and formed into Celestia.

Wheeling to face Celestia, Index stated, "I can do this on my own."

"I am beginning to entertain serious doubts as to the truth of that statement, Twilight." – Celestia moved to knock on the door – "Now come along. You did say you wished to do this as soon as possible."

After a few seconds of silence broken by Index's muttering, Celestia cast an awakening spell and knocked again a little louder. A sleepy moan emanated from inside the room.

"Bon-Bon? Is that you?"

Celestia nudged Index forward to the door with her wing.

"…No. It's Index. I need to talk to you."

"Ugh…" moaned Lyra Heartstrings, barely audible behind the door and obviously more than a little miffed. "Can't this wait? It's late."

"No. This is important."

Several second passed in silence before a response came. "Whatever. Just come in."

Opening the door and entering, Index found Lyra Heartstrings still in bed under her covers behind the door and tucked into a corner.

"You know, you are not taking this very seriously. A foal _could_ have easily assassinated you while you were asleep."

"Did you seriously wake me up just to tell me that?"

"No," Celestia said as she entered the room and stood next to Index, "she did not."

Lyra Heartstrings's eyes went wide as soon as the alicorn goddess came into her sight. She bolted upright and wrapped her blankets around herself as tightly as she could and scooted into the corner of her bed meeting the corner of the room.

"P-Please d-d-don't k-kill me! I s-swear I haven't d-done any" – Lyra Heartstrings gulped – "anything w-wrong! Please! I– I'll d-do anything!"

_Ironic…_ "I said I came to talk. What does that have to do with killing you?"

"B-But she– She's–"

Index turned her head toward Celestia and said, "Probably the kindness and most lenient ruler in the history of the universe. Neither of us is going to kill you or otherwise injure you."

"Flattery is not going to get you out of this," replied Celestia.

Index clicked her tongue. "I know."

The deathly panic Lyra Heartstrings had displayed abated. At least the deathly part did.

"T-Then you're h-here to deport me. Please, I can't go back to Aquastria. I love it here so much."

"I am glad to here that," Celestia commented.

Index then added, "I told you I made your residence here leg– Oh, I forgot to give you the paperwork."

Rummaging around in her bag of holding, Index summoned a small bundle of parchment and tossed it over to Lyra Heartstrings.

"That's everything you need to be officially considered an Equestrian citizen in every way as if you had been born here. I imagine you have had some problems without it."

"…Um…yes. Thank you. Thank you very much." – she took a deep breath and turned to Celestia – "But why are you here? And– Oh depths, you two know each other, don't you? Of course you do. Nopony would entrust saving the world to some random pony off the street. But I still don't get why you are here? Did I do something wrong with Honesty?"

Shaking her head slightly, Celestia answered, "I am here merely to hold this one's hoof and to make sure she does not run away. But it is good to meet you, Lyra Heartstrings. I am afraid Honesty was never my element, but I am sure we shall get along very well nonetheless."

Lyra Heartstrings raised her eyebrows and asked, "Run away?"

"Nevermind that," Index interjected. "I thought I would be kind enough to tell you who I really am; although, with Celestia here hovering over me, you can probably guess."

Dispelling her polymorph and not giving Lyra Heartstrings a chance to speak, Twilight said, "Surprise. Or not. Either way works for me. Now I need you to come help me with an interrogation."

Celestia gently smote Twilight on her side with a wing and expectantly said her full name. Twilight insisted that every act of violence Celestia performed, no matter how petty, was to be referred to as smiting. At least, she did when she was in a bad mood.

"Ugh… Do I really have to?"

"Yes, Twilight, you do."

With another groan, Twilight turned to lock eyes with Lyra Heartstrings and quickly said, "I'm sorry."

"Twilight, apologize properly." – Celestia's voice was perhaps the quintessence of firm voices – "I am sure Lyra Heartstrings knows even better than I how much you meant that. Am I mistaken, Lyra Heartstrings?"

The mare in question shook her head mutely.

"Neither of you two young mares is leaving this room until you apologize properly."

"…Fine," whispered Twilight. After taking a deep breath, she turned to Lyra Heartstrings and said all at once, "I am not sorry for what minor acts of revenge I have made against you in retaliation for you running away from me, injuring me, wounding my pride, and probably not being a psychopath for whatever reason. However, I recognize that I have been less than fair in planting seeds that will haunt you in the future and setting you up to fail with schemes with a low probability of success simply because you had a mostly reasonable fear that I was going to do something awful to you."

"…What schemes?"

Not missing a beat and practically on autopilot, Twilight replied, "If it went over your head, that is fine. You were distracted. Anyway, I will try to be nicer to you in the future but we got off on the wrong hoof and I have a tendency to hold grudges in the same manner that I make friends for life. If you actually get me to like you, I will be there for you until the day you die. I can give you some published findings about my personality type if you wish, but there is much debate about the applicability of the results."

Filling the awkward silence, Lyra Heartstrings hesitantly answered, "I don't think that will be necessary."

Twilight took a quick, heavy breath.

"See," Celestia started, "that was not so bad."

_Not so bad?_ "That was awful!"

Lyra Heartstrings helpfully added, "That's true."

"At least it is over with now."

"Yeah, sure. You can go back to the Everfree now. There is nothing else you have to force me to do anymore."

"Very well. But before I leave, Queen Chrysalis and I did agree to continue with our movie night in half a week. Even with the current situation." – Celestia turned to Lyra Heartstrings and silenced Twilight who had been about to protest what she knew was coming – "You are more than welcome to attend as well, Lyra Heartstrings."

"…You mean attend one big gathering of princesses, queens, archmages, and who knows what else?"

Celestia gave one of her very best smiles and said, "We are not so imposing in private."

"I'm sorry, but I think I'll pass. If you do not mind, your majesty."

"If that is your wish then I shall not interfere. My invitation is still valid up until when we are finished." Celestia turned back to Twilight and added, "Please invite the other bearers as well."

"…Even Pinkie Pie?"

Actually stumbling on her words for the tiniest moment, Celestia answered, "Yes, Twilight. Even Pinkie Pie."

"What about Trixie?"

"Hmm… Use your best judgment, but lean _toward_ inviting her." Catching herself on her wording, Celestia added, "And when I said your best judgment, I believe I meant to say, 'do as I would do,' instead."

Lyra Heartstrings suppressed a laugh and Twilight sent a glare her way, not completely without a blush which ruined the effect.

Impatiently, Twilight said, "Okay, Celestia. You can go now."

"Very well, Twilight. I shall see you later."

In the low light of the night with curtains making it darker inside, Celestia's exit was nearly blinding. Twilight had been prepared and had reacted accordingly, but Lyra Heartstrings had not been and still was rubbing her eyes with her magic long after.

Once she was finished, she glanced up at Twilight and, after maintaining eye contact for less than a second, looked away.

"I thought I was done with royalty," Lyra Heartstrings sighed.

"I'm not royalty. And if it were offered to me, I'd probably refuse it. Unlike the archmage title, being royalty is inescapable."

"…I more meant Princess Celestia, but good to know."

Twilight tried – _really_ tried – not to correct Lyra Heartstrings as part of her promise to be nicer, but the opportunity was too easy to pass up.

"Celestia's not royalty. Everyone calls her a princess but she's more of an empress. Royalty implies more of a hereditary position. The actually royal family, which she is technically included in, is royalty in the traditional sense. Needless to say, the diarchy of Equestria is _not_ hereditary because its rulers never die."

"Wait. Rulers? I know news in Aquastria from the surface leaves much to be desired, but I've never heard of Equestria having two rulers growing up. Nor have I in the five years I've been here."

"Most ponies," Twilight said as though most had not included herself until recently, "believe that Celestia calling her government a diarchy is just a quirk of her old age, but she actually has a sister, Luna. I suppose I should just go ahead and tell you everything since Trixie is already aware…"

The two mares fell silent as Twilight sighed and stopped talking.

"Well?" Lyra Heartstrings, breaking the silence, asked.

"Hang on. I'm organizing my thoughts." Passing a few minutes absorbed in thought while Lyra Heartstrings made herself more comfortable, Twilight finally said, "Okay, so I should make a clarification first. Luna and Nightmare Moon are the same pony."

Raising a single eyebrow at Lyra Heartstrings's silence, Twilight said, "You're taking this pretty well.

"It's not actually surprising. You did introduce Nightmare Moon as an insane evil goddess and said you left a bunch of stuff out. One mysterious unknown goddess is a lot more plausible than two. It's not hard to put two and two together. I suppose I can see why you two wouldn't want anypony to know that."

_First Daisy and now Lyra Heartstrings. Celestia is right. I need to stop underestimating ponies. Especially ponies like Daisy who I already know to be smart._

"Alright, so I expect you want to know why I'm bothering to tell you this now."

Lyra Heartstrings nodded and said, "It has something to do with that showmare, Trixie. Right?"

"Yes. She got Laughter and if her having some sort of personal grudge against me were not bad enough, she is also the head of Luna's nightguard."

"Oh buck."

"Exactly my reaction. I don't know what I'm going to do with her yet but I do want to avoid taking drastic measures."

"And by that, you mean killing her."

"Yes. I'm not willing to risk the fate of the world on bad luck in the selection process of the elements. Although, this does confirm my suspicions that Luna _has_ been active in Equestrian life the past thousand years. And not just active, but exceedingly active if she has already reformed her nightguard.

"Speaking of which, if she shows up in your dreams or you start having troubles at night, let me know right away and I'll see if I can do something about it."

"She can visit dreams?"

"It's the only thing she can do right now in her banishment. Probably. It's completely undetectable and she is the only one that knows how to. It's _really_ annoying because EIS primarily hunts down problems by examining paper trails and large or suspicious gatherings, so we are having trouble determining who is on whose side."

"I could just ask," Lyra Heartstrings suggested.

"There are a lot of tasks I would like to put Honesty to, but it is more than I can saddle on you. Especially with all the group socializing we have to do."

"Thanks, I guess. But does what you said mean she's visiting _your_ dreams?"

"Have I mentioned how much I hate being unable to lie to you?"

"I'll take that as a yes. So was that assassination comment because she knows where we are?"

"Possibly, but only because Trixie is asleep right now. Otherwise I have not told her anything that would attract her attention to Ponyville. I have warded Sweetie Belle's home since nopony else would. I'll know if anypony gets close and nopony can teleport in. So long as nopony on my level tries sniping her, she'll be safe.

"Pinkie Pie can take care of herself, Trixie's not in danger, and Flash Sentry, who got Loyalty, can teleport to me. That just leaves you in danger. And to be honest, I would like to get all of the bearers out of Ponyville now that we are all gathered."

"Where to?" Lyra Heartstrings asked, biting her lip.

"I have a secret laboratory that I can take us to after we settle things with Trixie. Nopony – not even Celestia – knows where it is and finding it is outrageously difficult. Without Loyalty, that is. With Loyalty it is as trivial as visiting two random places on the planet and then doing math."

"Could… Could I bring Bon-Bon with? We still have a lot to work out, and I'd rather not leave her alone for two weeks."

_Well, I guess she doesn't want a memory spell. _Frowning, Twilight answered, "This is one of those things Pinkie Pie would tell me to answer yes to, isn't it?"

Lyra Heartstrings nodded her head once slowly.

"I…guess it's fine. But make sure you remember why we are doing this while you're there. Anything else before we go?"

After Lyra Heartstrings shook her head, Twilight teleported the pair through a series of jumps until they arrived just outside the Canterlot dungeons. The room they were in was lit by magical lighting but, just beyond the doors to the cells, the lighting turned to primitive oil lamps. The entire atmosphere of the room was gloomy and screamed dungeon.

A pair of guards had been sitting at the table and were halfway to their hooves, spears nearly readied when they recognized Twilight as the archmage. Of course, only authorized ponies were allowed to teleport into the dungeons, or anywhere else in the castle, but Shining ran a tight ship as captain.

"Um… Are these the Canterlot dungeons?" Lyra Heartstrings asked. Once Twilight had nodded, she continued, "These are a lot less terrible than I imagined."

"Really?" Twilight asked but got no answered. She then turned to the guards and asked, "We will be interrogating the mare I brought in half an hour ago. We are not to be disturbed under any circumstances unless Princess Celestia herself wishes to join our company. Understood?"

The guards nodded and saluted before sitting back down. Lyra Heartstrings, however, had objections.

"You put Trixie in the dungeons?" Once Twilight had given a flippant answer, Lyra Heartstrings continued, "Why would you do that? Do you not remember what I did to avoid this place? This has got to be the worst possible idea to bring her to our side ever."

"Well, where else was I suppose to put her? The dungeons are the fifth most secure location in the castle – just after my room."

"Why not there?"

"…You mean my room?"

"Duh."

"Take Trixie there?"

Lyra Heartstrings rolled her eyes.

"That place is secure for a reason, you know. I do not drag every random pony I meet there to have a pleasant chat over tea and biscuits. Especially not dangerous ponies."

"Oh depths, fine," Lyra Heartstrings huffed, her patience clearly running out. "Anywhere is better than here, so pick someplace else. She's not awake already, is she?"

Shaking her head, Twilight answered, "She will be out without magical intervention for a _long_ time still. She was incredibly drunk when I ran into her."

Twilight tapped her jaw thoughtfully with her forehoof. _I don't really want to take her to the council room, and Celestia's room is an obvious no. I guess I could take her to the war room._

"All right. We will relocate before waking Trixie up then," Twilight said to Lyra Heartstrings as much as to the guards. "I trust you have no objections if we take her to one of the royal guard's offices?"

"Is it nice?"

"…I guess? You are not going to get homely; it is a military room. Princess Celestia and I both insisted the chairs be replaced after the last griffin invasion, so they are quite comfortable now. I…think there is a painting in there."

Lyra Heartstrings made an exasperated grunt and said, "That's good enough if you really have nothing better."

* * *

Trixie awoke lying on some kind of bed that could not decide whether or not it wanted to be comfortable. From the faint glow on her eyelids, she had accidentally left the light on when she went to bed after whatever happened. Last night must have been spent in the metaphorical gutter even if she did not feel as awful as she should after a night of binge drinking.

Trixie moaned and tried to rotate away from the light, but whatever she was sleeping on was having none of that. Now that her proprioception was working again, it felt suspiciously like she was sitting upright. And without a blanket at that.

Opening her eyes ever so slightly to see what was around her, Trixie saw Twilight Sparkle and some random aquamarine unicorn. It was difficult to tell underneath all of Twilight Sparkle's other spells, but it felt an awful lot like the blue one had a polymorph _and_ an illusion on her.

"Wait, what?" Trixie burst out.

Her eyes snapped open to actually see what was going on. She was placed on a chair some distance away from a large table with an impressively sculpted map jutting out from its surface. The walls were similarly lined with maps and a random assortment of other documents.

The lighting was the strangest part. There were only oil lamps in the room rather than the magical lighting used everywhere else in Equestria. There were only two types of places where oil lamps were used. The first was in stores trying to feel antiquated. Rather pathetic in Trixie's opinion. The second was when there was a ridiculous number of wards around which required spellkeys to circumvent.

"Welcome, Captain Beatrix Lulamoon," Twilight Sparkle said.

The blue unicorn frowned and her tail whipped Twilight Sparkle on her side but went ignored.

_Oh, this better not be what I think it is…_

"This is Princess Luna's double secret headquarters for the rebellion."

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Trixie asked, "Code word?"

Trixie had expected the act to fumble and crack so she could laugh and gloat but, interestingly, Twilight Sparkle took it an entirely different direction.

"See? I told you that's how she would react."

The blue mare sighed and said, "I don't even care anymore."

_Are these two for real? _

Twilight Sparkle followed up with, "Trixie, there are no code words this high up. There's simply no need for them when you're as magically talented as us three."

"Please. As much as I appreciate the flattery, if you were involved with Luna at all then you would be well aware that I told her to buck off and never bother me again."

Eyes wide, Twilight Sparkle turned to her co-actor who nodded back to her.

"Huh. That's not what I expected to hear at all. But convenient. Do you mind telling me why?"

"Why?" Trixie echoed. Then shouting, she continued, "Why! Because she was doing the exact same thing to me that her sister, the ever loving and perfect Princess Celestia, did to her!"

When Twilight Sparkle actually dared a smile, Trixie nearly lost her self-control. If there had not been so many wards around, she might have actually attacked Twilight Sparkle.

"Don't look so happy, Sparklebutt! You're even guiltier than Luna!"

Twilight frowned and said, "I don't understand. We've only met that one time and I barely remember it."

"Argh! You're _just like_ Princess Celestia!" – Trixie's control was threatened again – "That better not be a blush! You two are so obsessed with perfection that you never notice the ponies around you who aren't perfect!"

"What? I can't be expe–"

Venting her years of pent up frustration all at once, Trixie interrupted, "Do you have _any_ idea what it's like growing up in your shadow? Everything is _always_ about Twilight bucking Sparkle!

"'Oh, Trixie, you got into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. How nice. Not as great as being Princess Celestia's personal student, but pretty good.'

"'Twilight Sparkle's was only able to cast that spell at the age of six, so you're doing pretty well.'

"'Don't worry, not everypony is a Twilight Sparkle.'

"'Twilight Sparkle's so cool. Oh hey, Trixie. I didn't see you there. Sorry.'

"'Twilight Sparkle has magical accidents too, but she knows how to mitigate and contain damage.'

After struggling to rein in her hyperventilating, Trixie continued, "Every waking _minute_ was a constant reminder that I wasn't _you_. Not second. Minute. It's not an expression. Every minute there was somepony in earshot talking about how great you were.

"_And then_, I got a goddess princess of my own as _my_ mentor. I couldn't believe it! She wanted to teach _me_ and she had never even heard of Twilight Sparkle until I told her. And she _still_ wanted to teach me over you.

"But _now_ I know that she didn't. I was just what she could scrounge up because you were, and still are, so bucking attached to your own princess that she didn't want to let you know she could dreamwalk because you'd just tell her sister and ruin all her stupid plans."

Trixie took the briefest of pauses for a deep breath and continued, "But she taught me anyway. I was so looking forward to finally being recognized as something other than your shadow. Good, evil, or otherwise, I didn't care. At least I could be me! At least I could be Trixie!

"But no! When I collected the Nightguardian Staff, I was so excited. I thought I had finally proven myself better than you. Or at the very least equal. I worked my flank off as her apprentice and even got myself expelled in the process.

"Bah! I was a fool! I don't know why or how she expects to get it to work, but guess who Luna wants to be her archmage. Want a hint? It starts with t and ends with e. Give up? It's Twilight bucking Sparkle. The pony who barely even recognizes that I exist and who treats everypony else the same way except Princess Celestia."

Her rant over, Trixie finished with an extra loud snort and sunk back deeper into her chair. She was less than content to have only yelled at the source of practically everything that had gone wrong in her life as she simmered in her anger, but it still had been nice.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Trixie was ecstatic that she had not been reduced to tears at any point. Especially considering how dangerously close she currently was.

Twilight Sparkle seemed to be mulling for words and as soon as she tried to say something, the light blue mare blocked her mouth with a hoof.

"You're just going to make things worse. Let her cool off before you start saying insensitive things."

Giving the light blue pony a thoughtful gaze and a weak smile, Trixie said, "I think I like you already. Who are you?"

"Lyra Heartstrings, but everypony except Twilight just calls me Lyra."

"Wha– If you want me to call you something else, you have to tell me."

"How was it not obvious when the entire town just calls me Lyra?"

"For the same reasons I don't want you calling me Twi or Twily."

"Really? I mean, seriously. Lyra Heartstrings. What a mouthful. Is that why you call Bon-Bon Sweetie Drops?"

"I call her that because she introduced herself that way and because" – Twilight Sparkle paused for emphasis – "it's her name. If she wanted to be called Bon-Bon, she'd just ask."

"Oh, come on! Why do you need rudimentary relationship advice from _me_ of all ponies? I'm a reformed psychopath."

Twilight Sparkle grumbled, "Fine. If you know so much, you take care of this. She's not on Luna's side so I don't have to deal with this until later today."

After she had said her piece, Twilight Sparkle half stomped to the door, slammed it open, and waltzed out without closing the door. In a few seconds, she shouted, "Catch!" and something golden came whizzing into the room. Lyra barely caught it before it hit her square on the tip of the horn while the door slammed closed.

"Ha! Well done, Lyra. You really put Sparklebutt in her…place…"

Trixie's eyes locked onto the golden necklace – for that was what Twilight Sparkle had thrown in – that Lyra held suspended midair. The light blue gem on it was halfway in color between her cutie mark and her coat. From what Trixie could see, the gem was actually cut into the same starry shape as the top of the staff of her cutie mark.

And even though it clash with every single aesthetic she had ever called her own, there was something about the necklace that Trixie found absolutely fascinating.

"Lyra," Trixie began in all seriousness, "sell me that."

"Wow. Watching this from the outside, it's no wonder Bon-Bon was weirded out when I got mine."

Lyra floated the necklace over to Trixie, unclasped it, and put worked it comfortably around her neck. It was a bit tingly and seemed to be scratching an itch in the back of her mind she had not noticed before. As if she had finally found something really important she had been missing.

And there was something else. Something Trixie could not quite place. Some sort of gentle intrusion into her mind that should not be possible with magic.

"There. I guess Laughter looks a little better on you in its natural state than Honesty does on me, but you might want to throw up an illusion to make it silver or something. Gold doesn't really go well with our coloring–

"Oh! Palladium would be even better against your dark blue coat. Hmm… But then it'd make the gem blend in. Eh, whatever. Rarity is the expert on this kind of stuff and we can't do anything here with Twilight gone to who knows where."

_As much as I'm _not_ looking forward to talking fashion…_ "What about the illusion on you?"

"Twilight recast it for me. Between you and me, that mare has serious trust issues."

"If you think that's a secret," Trixie said happily as they moved back into more comfortable ground, "then you have not been anywhere near her for very long. Sparklebutt has _problems_ but nopony ever seems to care. Except the nobility, but they don't care for the right reasons."

"And she's got a total stick up her plot."

Trixie laughed dismissively. "A stick? More like a log."

"Or an entire tree," laughed Lyra.

Unable to avoid imagining the image of an entire tree sticking out of Twilight Sparkle's rear, both mares practically fell to the ground laughing – and Trixie was sitting on a chair.

Once she had mostly recovered, suffering only the occasional giggle, Trixie asked, "So what do I owe _you_" – emphasizing the last word to distract herself from the fact that Twilight Sparkle had it originally – "for this necklace? You called it Laughter, so I'm guessing it's a rare magical artifact. That can't be cheap."

"You're not going to like the price," Lyra said as solemnly as she could with her own giggling interrupting her. "For many reasons."

"Just tell me."

"Well…maybe I should explain what it is first since Twilight's not around. You'll have to forgive me if I give you some misinformation; Twilight was pretty hasty when she infodumped it all on me before we collected you."

_Collected…_ "That reminds me, where is my stuff? I had a bunch of things in a bag of holding that I don't want to lose."

"We'd have to ask Twilight. She probably has it all stored somewhere until we leave. Maybe in her own, but I don't know. She didn't explain the wards here to me other than saying, 'Don't cast anything other than telekinesis on objects.'"

"Helpful, right?" Trixie said, rolling her eyes.

"I know, right? Anyway, the necklace is one of The Elements of Harmony. The Element of Laughter in particular. We just call it Laughter for short. The other five and their bearers are, in order, Magic, Twilight, Honesty, myself, Generosity, Sweetie Belle, Kindness, Pinkie Pie, Loyalty, Flash Sentry.

"I've never met Flash Sentry and I don't know Sweetie Belle that well, though from what I do know, she could be summed up as a creature from the depths with a magic, cutie mark, and Archmage Twilight Sparkle obsession."

"Great. Then again, who isn't these days?" sighed Trixie.

Lyra faked a pair of coughs and said, "Anyways…Magic supposedly boosts magic. Honesty lets me know when ponies are lying."

"That explains the earlier conversation. I _was_ pretty surprised Sparklebutt believed me. Well, underneath all the anger."

Nodding, Lyra continued, "Generosity lets Sweetie Belle read minds which is a bit unsettling. Loyalty lets Flash teleport around and find ponies."

"Isn't that kind of useless?"

"Well, he's a pegasus, so not for him. But it also apparently doesn't have a range limit and it goes through every ward."

"Huh. I take that back. That sounds pretty interesting."

"And then there's Kindness. It lets Pinkie see relationships and emotions with, and I quote, 'disturbing accuracy,' end quote."

"All right, very interesting. But what does Laughter do?"

"Um… Twilight had some very colorful words for Laughter and said it was one of the major factors in Luna's banishment."

Trixie looked down and eyed Laughter with a more careful glance. It was a common misconception that ancient magical artifacts were commonly cursed or had horrible side effects, but there were some exceptions.

_Now that I think about it, I do have an uncharacteristic fondness for this necklace._

"So it's dangerous?"

"I don't really see why she thinks that. When I finally got her to stop soliloquizing about how much she hated the element, she said it does two things and wasn't very clear about what. She said, 'It gives plus two to charisma passively and cranks it up to plus eleven when explicitly activated.' I'm not really sure what that means."

"It's a reference to tabletop games. Luna loves them, although I never really developed a taste. Still, it's pretty surprising that she'd make that kind of reference."

"Why?"

"They're inherently social games. It's a well known fact in Canterlot that her brother used to be an avid role-player before he became captain and got married, but I can't imagine her ever playing.

"What I don't understand is what possible aspect of charisma she could possibly be talking about. I don't _feel_ more charismatic and magic shouldn't be able to do anything like that anyway."

Lyra just shrugged.

"Do I suddenly look like a knockout beauty or something?"

"That's a very loaded question, Trixie."

"I'll take that as a no. Besides, if I wanted _that_ kind of attention, I'd just polymorph."

The look Trixie accompanied with the word polymorph drew a small eep from Lyra, but she quickly moved the topic back to the elements.

"I don't get what's dangerous about Laughter. Or how a 'charisma boost' could contribute to Luna's temper tantrum."

"Hey, didn't you just have a temper tantrum of your own?"

"Yes, but unlike her I'm not trying to kill Twilight and usurp her position. Not that Princess Celestia would ever let me. She'd probably make a special place in Tartarus just for me and torture me for the rest of my life. Maybe even find a way to make me immortal just so she could keep it up forever."

"What? I haven't been in Equestria for that long, but I have literally heard nothing negative about the princess. And I know there's no censorship in Equestria. Would she really do that?"

"Not normally, no. But I know _a lot_ about the royal sisters. Possibly more than Sparklebutt. Princess Celestia _never_ gets as close to a single pony, with the exception of Luna, as she has with Twilight.

"Prince Shining Armor's protection of his sister is infamous, but Princess Celestia's absolutely dwarfs it. It's just much more hidden. For example, in the past, there were several assassination attempts on filly Twilight when she was still puny and…let's just say that after each one, quite a few important individuals quietly disappeared from the face of Equus."

"Yikes," said Lyra, her voice queasy.

"There's actually a lot of hushed rumors spoken quickly and quietly in back corners of reputable pubs that Twilight is Princess Celestia's filly and was put with a foster family. Absolute ponyfeathers, but enlightening.

"I imagine it'll become a more common thought to the magically uneducated whenever she decides to stop aging." – Trixie scowled – "And now I've got myself thinking about how long I have to share this planet with Sparklebutt.

"Anyway, explain to me what the cost of Laughter is."

"Right… The elements can be used as a set and are not exchangeable short of the death of the bearer and…being extremely unharmonious seems to be the other way to lose your element. Whatever that means. They can be used as a set to provide… How did she put it? Oh yes. 'Instant therapy.'"

"So that's what this is about. You want to use them on Luna." – Lyra nodded and tensed up – "I can't imagine Princess Celestia actually harming her precious little sister intentionally, so I guess I'd be willing to help." _Especially considering Twilight's equally fanatical love for Princess Celestia; I'd rather stay alive._

Still not letting herself breath normally, Lyra half-squeaked out, "There's one other thing. Concerning the elements's power source…"

Trixie waited patiently for an explanation that never came. Sighing, she requested, "Go on."

"Well…you see…it's–"

Lyra whispered the final word and immediately recoiled from the bearer of Laughter. Even without magic, Trixie's shout managed to reach half the intensity of the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. There was nothing funny about this.

* * *

Twilight was once again waiting in Celestia's chambers for the princess to return and this time she was decidedly not waiting on the bed. Celestia already had returned from the Everfree, but was busy rushing to prepare a press conference for the early morning.

In no mood to rush back to Trixie and Lyra herself, Twilight was content to wait for Celestia and to amuse herself with a small research project on an obscure spell from a long forgotten scroll. Just a little tidbit she used to pass the time the way most ponies would enjoy reading an adventure story or a romance.

She had over a thousand published papers on similar topics and was about to start adding one more when Celestia finally returned to the room.

Once the door had closed, Celestia said, "Hello, Twilight. I should like to get _some_ sleep before I have to raise the sun, so if we could keep this short, I should appreciate it."

"Of course," Twilight agreed.

"Oh, and how is Trixie?"

"There was one shining moment when I thought I had an easily salvageable situation and then it all went barrel up. At least she seems to be neutral at worst, so that's something."

"I see," Celestia mused. After nearly a full minute of rumination which clearly showed on her face, she asked, "What was it you wished to speak about?"

"Trixie actually. It would appear that I'm her Celestia."

With the slightest inclination of her head, Celestia asked, "How so?"

"Trixie is the metaphorical Luna."

"Oh dear. Be very careful around her, Twilight. That type of hatred runs deep and strong."

"I've had a mock duel with her before. She's a fantastic fighter but she wouldn't be able to kill me. Especially with Magic at my beck and call."

"You misunderstand. I did not mean for you to be careful for your sake, but for hers. Do not make her lose herself to her anger, Twilight. Trust me when I say you do not want that on your conscious."

"Duly noted. But then it's a good thing I came straight to you."

Celestia's eyes widened. "Twilight, I–"

"Have had a thousand years to think of the perfect way to apologize to your Luna. This seems like an excellent test run, don't you think?"

"It is not the same at all, Twilight. Luna and I are sisters with hundreds of years of love to strengthen that bond from our filly years. Even if you and I did nothing and let Luna banish me, _eventually_ she shall wish to have me back in her life. She can only hold a grudge so long. Even Discord showed signs of boredom near the end of his reign of torment."

"…That's a very interesting perspective," Twilight said.

"It is the privilege of the immortal. Unlike Luna and I, you two do not have a relationship to rebuild. You have to forge one for the first time."

"So you can't help at all?"

"I have nothing but regular advice. And a helping hoof again, if you need it."

"No thank you," Twilight firmly said. "Once was humiliating enough. I'll just defer to Pinkie Pie's judgment."

Twilight could not help but notice a bit of a pout in Celestia's voice when she said, "All right, Twilight. Will you be leaving or do you wish to spend the night?"

Blushing profusely as she was reminded of earlier tonight, Twilight said, "I'm not sleeping until the the next night. I can't face Luna right now."

"…Do you–"

"No!" Composing herself, Twilight added, "I do not have any type of crush on her or anypony else. I got myself worked up over something embarrassing that partially involved her and that's it. End of story. No misunderstandings. And oh, look at the time. I need to go clean up for company."

Twilight made a beeline to the door before Celestia could start teasing her. Or worse, developed enough of an interest to tell Cadance.

Halfway between a trot and a canter, Twilight made it past the teleportation wards and left Canterlot Castle behind, fleeing in as few jumps as efficiently possible to the refuge of her secret laboratory in the frozen north.

"Okay, Twilight," Twilight said as she walked through the halls of her lab. "We have six ponies coming over. That means we need to make a dormitory in one of the unused rooms and we need bathrooms here. And we need to clean up the mess of books and experiments I've left lying around.

"We have a young, magically curious filly coming over with a reputation for destruction. No open potions anywhere. Skeleton spells need to be scrubbed clean. Everything breakable needs to have protective enchantments placed on it. Anything drinkable needs to be stoppered and sealed.

"Less than half of us can recognize what's dangerous and what's not. We need to get hazard signs put up. Completely seal off the artificing section. Keep all paper records in my sub-dimensional storage at all times. I can probably leave the library open. Make sure nopony can get near the solidified magic store so nopony causes a giant explosion.

"What else… Oh. I suppose the others would like to eat instead of going on a polymorph fueled research binge. That means food and a kitchen. And a source of water other than a summoning spell. We could use a meeting room of some kind too."

Twilight took her first step into the main room of her lab. It was even messier than she remembered. Thousands of books lay around on tables, on shelves, on the floor, and even just floating in midair. Some open, some bookmarked, some stacked in giant piles.

What was not covered with books was covered with equipment. And she still had not bothered to clean up the mess she had made with an experimental growth potion and some fungi.

A problem that seemed to be getting worse with time.

At least the books were enchanted to resist fungal growth, moths, bookworms, and anything else that wanted to eat her precious paper.

_This is going to be a longer night than I imagined_, Twilight thought with dread.

* * *

For the first time in her life, Silver Bell wished she was not a queen. That she did not have to be here. That she did not have to hide her frantic emotions behind a mask of poise as thousands of years of tradition came crashing down on her watch. That she did not have to wonder if her decisions were right. That she did not have to watch her culture be flipped upside down.

Everything was going to change in a few minutes. They were just waiting for everyone to show up to witness it.

The only comfort Silver Bell had was the inability of that other changeling in the preparation room to taste her emotions. That would have been mortifying.

"So in conclusion," Daisy Wishes began, "because the senate – and who knows how many other ponies – already know, we are going to fully reveal changelings to the world backed by the full faith and confidence of the princess and the archmage along with several other key figures to avert a huge crisis and backlash against the species."

Daisy Wishes's relief and happiness at finishing her speech to a large assembly of various ponies of importance as she sat down was both delicious and irking. Even changelings found it hard to eat when they were nervous.

"Any questions," Princess Celestia asked to the room at large but only Tarsus raised his hoof. "Yes, Espionage?"

Tarsus was hovering protectively over Octavia Melody in an earth pony disguise. The mare herself was rather annoyed with the attention but simultaneously throwing out large amounts of love.

"Why is Tavi here? She has nothing to do with this."

"Hey!"

Tarsus turned her head to Octavia Melody and said, "Hey what? You're not a changeling and this is going to mess up everything for you."

Responding with an unyielding voice, Octavia Melody said, "Esp, it's fine."

_Octavia Melody calls Tarsus by her codename in public? Huh. I was under the impression ponies were more…intimate all the time. I shall have to think about that if I get another chance to act._

"But–"

"No buts. I'm fine with being here."

"I hate to interrupt," Princess Celestia interrupted, "but it would be best if you saved your affection for the reporters gathering."

Both Tarsus and Octavia Melody gave the princess questioning glances but it was Silver Bell that responded.

"You two are begrudgingly" – Princess Celestia gave Silver Bell an ever so slight glare – "here as poster foals along with myself."

Continuing where Silver Bell had stopped, Princess Celestia said, "It has been a long time since I had to integrate a new species fully into Equestria, but ponies have not changed nearly as much as our magic and infrastructure has improved. The same tricks I used in the past shall work equally well now.

"More specifically, the chance to see changelings behaving in the same manner as ponies plus or minus cultural nuance. Queen Chrysalis has already provided that spectacularly through her acting along with many other less prominent members of your hive. And, as a personal note, it is to my shame that I admit it has worked upon myself.

"However, there shall be lingering suspicion and concern as ponies are, quite literally, your food. That is why we want you two present to show unequivocally that changeling feeding is safe and harmless."

Bordering on flippantly, Silver Bell added, "I believe you also mentioned that everyone loves a good love story with a happy ending. And what better story than someone betraying everything for their lover?"

Tarsus looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.

Perhaps pretending Silver Bell had said nothing, Princess Celestia continued, "So keeping that in mind, while we need to reveal certain details of changeling biology immediately, please confine yourselves to the less unusual aspects as much as possible."

Turning to Daisy Wishes, the princess asked, "Did you get enough information from Archmage Twilight Sparkle for your part?"

"Um…" – Daisy Wishes gulped – "I think a better question is did I get too much…"

Princess Celestia might as well have laughed with how obvious her emotional spike was, although it was bland in flavor.

"I think I've managed to skim it down to a reasonable amount, but I'm not sure I'm covering the right topics. I'm far from an expert in obscure magics and there's no way I'll be able to cast these spells; they're way outside my magical talents."

"I shall assist you with any demonstrations you need. Just focus on remaining as relaxed as possible. You are a relatively normal pony and new to changelings yourself. Your behavior shall be critical. If you are nervous, events could proceed suboptimally. On the other hoof, if you are at ease, the reception of changelings shall be smoother."

"I– I don't think that's going to help me be less nervous."

_Ha. You can say that again. You are practically ready to pop already._

Daisy Wishes looked back and forth between Silver Bell and Tarsus. "…I don't suppose that I could ask one of you to gnaw at my nerves, could I?"

Tarsus made an unpleasant face and Silver Bell involuntarily joined her.

"Is that a no? I mean, I've given plenty of speeches to large crowds…but this is a bit…more large and important."

Nearly sighing, Silver Bell answered, "Very well. But do not make a habit of this. And _especially_ do not point it out to anyone. Consuming nervousness is much akin to eating sand. I _do not_ wish for my species to be introduced as…as nerve medicine."

Princess Celestia looked suddenly thoughtful.

"No. I do not care how much or how little it would help our cause. It is utterly undignified to be a glorified prescription."

"Very well, Queen Chrysalis," the princess replied. Then addressing the room as a whole again, she asked, "Is everyone ready to begin?"

To varying degrees, everyone agreed. Some nodded. Some voiced approval. Some, like Silver Bell, said nothing.

_Sigh… Well, here goes over two-thousand years of tradition down the hole. Hopefully, the other hives will only want to kill me._

Horn glowing, Princess Celestia wrapped everyone in a teleportation spell. The next instant, they were gathered in a new room just behind an outrageously long table with chairs lining one side of it.

On the opposite side stood rows upon rows of chairs packed to the brim with ponies. The room was crowded to the point requiring several ponies to stand and a fair number of pegasi to hover in place or lounge on a stray cloud.

An explosion of questions started only for Princess Celestia to quiet them while everyone found their seat. The princess was, naturally, in the center. To her right sat Daisy Wishes with Commander Soulful Dusk in the next seat over. To her left sat Silver Bell. Further to the left sat Tarsus with Octavian Melody acting as a buffer between the two changelings.

Beyond those ponies, Silver Bell did not recognize anyone else.

_I need to make a point of learning who's who in Equestrian politics. I suppose I could send the question out on the hive mind if it becomes relevant. …Or ask Tarsus._

Silver Bell did her best to cover up a sudden and unexplained scowl as Princess Celestia began the press conference.

"Greetings, everypony. First, please accept my apologies for calling for this meeting on such short notice and my gratitude for attending. Especially so early in the morning. I am sure you are wondering what shocking revelation we have to announce–"

The explosion of questions restarted.

"Are you costarring in a movie with Silver Bell?"

"Have you formed a string quartet with Octavia Melody and Silver Bell?"

"Have you gotten married?"

"What happened in the senate?"

"Perhaps you've joined some sort of band?"

"Are you going to explain why the archmage has disappeared?"

"Did you have a lover's spat with Archmage Twilight Sparkle?"

Silver Bell barely suppressed a laugh – even with changelings about to be revealed to the world – at the princess's sudden spike in irritation she hid behind her calm smile as she quieted the room again.

"I believe I heard the word 'senate' from somewhere in the crowd. May I ask who had questions regarding the senate?"

A small wingful of ponies raised their hooves. Princess Celestia called on a dark gray maned earth pony stallion with a light blue coat.

"Pen Swirl, if you would."

Momentarily tongue-tied, the reporter finally asked with quill and notepad at hoof, "We have heard no word from the senate since yesterday and they are usually very eager to share information on politics. I have also heard that they have been sequestered somewhere for one reason or another. What exactly has happened and does it have anything to do with the disappearance of Archmage Twilight Sparkle?"

"As regards my archmage, I shall say only what has already been said. She is currently attending to affairs of state and shall return sometime after the Summer Sun Celebration when her business is completed.

"The senate has been confined to quarters today – with a few exceptions – so they could not leak any more information than they already have before this conference."

The eyes and ears of everyone in the room were instantly captivated by the princess's statement and a dead silence fell before she continued.

"Approximately four years ago, our nation had the great pleasure to act as host to a secret wandering nation." – Silver Bell cringed as a massive wave of confusion that tasted much like stale bread washed over her – "While I was vaguely aware of their presence in the world, I was quite surprised myself when we made contact a year later.

"Their story goes back to the Discordian Era and quite possibly even further beyond. Due to their nature and the turbulent times of the era, they had suffered greatly from persecution and extermination attempts. Not as terrible as what had happened to the griffins of the era, but still better left unsaid.

"With the aid of their magic, they have managed to remain hidden for at least two-thousand years and are finally ready to return to the world's attention."

_Wow, way to lie through your teeth._

"Thus, it is my great honor to introduce Queen Chrysalis."

Doing her best to ignore the sweeping confusion and expectation – the latter of which was not so bad – in the room, Silver Bell joked, "Greetings. I am Silver Bell, but you probably already know that."

There were a few isolated, nervous laughs but the overwhelming reaction was gaping and dropped quills.

"What you do not know is my real name is Queen Chrysalis. I am the ruler of one of the many changeling hives in Equus and we currently reside within Equestria with the full support of Princess Celestia and Archmage Twilight Sparkle.

Pausing a moment to be sure no one in the crowd was ready to fly into a panic and set everyone else off, Silver Bell continued, "For the few of you that may be familiar with extremely old nursery rhymes and scary stories, I assure you real changelings bear very limited resemblance to the monsters we were portrayed as and only in the superficial details.

"It is true that our diet consists of emotions – particularly positive emotions – of sapient creatures. However, the effects are only harmful to some" – Silver Bell nearly tripped on her vocabulary but caught herself in time – "pony if malice is intended. This is in the same manner that any unicorn could cause series damage or death with their telekinesis should they intend harm."

Carefully sampling the emotions of the crowd, Silver Bell concluded no one was yet ready to panic but unease was taking root.

"To illustrate my point, I shall turn turn to Octavia Melody."

Trying to quietly whisper to Tarsus, Octavia Melody's voice spread out amongst the crowd as she asked, "How does this– Oh, I just talk. Okay. Um…"

Silver Bell sighed internally as Octavia Melody blushed – which was quite visible through her gray coat – and boiled over with embarrassment.

"_Help her_," Silver Bell said to Tarsus over the hive mind.

Tarsus put a supportive arm around her lover and nuzzled Octavia Melody.

"Oh Celestia, this is really different from playing in front of ponies. Um… Well… First, I am an earth pony, not a changeling. And if you do not know who I am, my name is Octavia Melody. I play the cello and I am the head of the Canterlot Quartet. Next to me is my husband, Espionage, formerly Tarsus, who works in EIS directly under the archmage."

_Formerly?_

Silver Bell spared a glance to see Tarsus was biting his lip ever so slightly.

"_Something you want to tell me?_"

"_Not really…_"

"_You took a pony name! Do you even consider yourself a changeling anymore?_"

"_Of course I do!_" Calming down, Tarsus finished, "_We should have this talk later._"

"_Hmph_."

Silver Bell turned her attention back to Octavia Melody and idly wondered what she could possibly see in Tarsus.

"We married a little over two years ago and had been dating for nearly a year before that. He actually asked me to be his marefriend the night after he met the archmage to get my cello that he broke fixed and drew her attention to the hive's existence. Ever since I agreed–"

"Quite enthusiastically agreed," Tarsus commented and elicited an even deeper blush from Octavia Melody.

"Yes, well, there may have been some kissing involved. Anyway, ever since then, Esp has exclusively fed off my love for him without causing any adverse side effects or putting a damper on our married life. In fact, he is getting a little pudgy from how well he eats when he is in his base form."

Interrupting, Silver Bell said, "And that brings us to our other important topic: changeling magic. As journalists, you are no doubt aware that I have acquired an epithet over my time in Equestria. The 'Lady of a Thousand Faces'. I have passed the ability off as high-level unicorn magic; however, I am actually using a very fundamental spell of changeling magic."

Silver Bell's horn glowed momentarily and she was enveloped in a flash of fire. The demonstration was nothing new to the public, and it fortunately did not incite any riots. Chrysalis was now an exact duplicate of the supermodel Fleur Dis Lee.

"Every changeling is able to change their appearance at will. This is a completely transformation, not merely a surface change."

Changing once more, Chrysalis took the form of Captain Shining Armor who she spied standing at the back of the room watching for trouble. She tried not to gag as she accidentally got a taste of his current emotions.

_Today is the absolute worst day to be hungry._

"If I were to…participate in nightly activities like this, I would be quite capable of conceiving a foal with a mare. Without additional preparation, I am not a perfect genetic match for our good captain, but we currently share enough in common for us to fool a poorly cast spell."

Sending a wave of fire over herself again, Chrysalis took the form of the archmage.

"However, there is one thing this spell does not do. It does not alter a changeling's magic. I can no more cast a unicorn's spells than a unicorn could cast mine. If I were forced to choose which species's magic changeling magic most resembles, I would say we are a heavily watered down version of an alicorn.

"Like earth ponies, we have enhanced strength and stamina, although not to the same extent. We also have similar magic to an earth pony's grip magic.

"Unlike unicorns, we do not have telekinesis. However, we do have access to a small assortment of utility spells and a wingful of combat spells.

"Finally, like pegasi, we are capable of flight."

Chrysalis actually gulped and took a deep breath as she dispelled her transformation and took her base form, closing her eyes. She fluttered her paper-thin, translucent wings for the first time in what felt like ages; the life of a superstar was filled with surprise pictures. Her jagged horn felt almost foreign after using a unicorn's significantly smaller version for so long.

She was also careful to make sure to keep her legs hidden underneath the table cover that hung just above the floor so no one would see the holes in her legs. One step at a time.

Eyes still closed, Chrysalis paused.

_No screaming. Better than I hoped. Lots of revulsion, but that was to be expected. Ponies are not exactly well-known for crossbreeding. I think a couple actually like it…_

Taking a deep breath and opening her eyes, Chrysalis continued, "This is my natural form. Much like your own princess, I am nearly twice the size of other changelings."

"_If you would…_"

Tarsus nodded slightly in the corner of Chrysalis's vision and released her own transformation. If her pure black carapace was not strange enough, Chrysalis knew the distinct lack of pupils in her eyes would be unnerving to most. Or maybe it would be the fangs.

_Still no screams. That is _fantastic_. I thought for sure this was were everything would blow up in our faces._

"Although the fine details vary, the old stories were spot on about one thing in particular. Changelings _do_ in fact bear a remarkable resemblance to bees in social structure.

"Without broaching the _intimate_ details of our biology, Espionage is more or less the equivalent of a worker bee. The one thing the stories got wrong is their insistence on referring to her type as a drone. Bee drones are male and Espionage is female in her natural form. Like bees, we have a disproportionately tiny number of males and the odds of meeting one outside of special circumstances are slim to none."

After taking a pause to breathe, Chrysalis finished, "And with that covered, I turn the conversation over to Daisy Wishes who will speak briefly on related unicorn magic."

Hastily picking up the conversation, Daisy Wishes said, "Um… So, I've been going through a giant stack of notes Twi– Archmage Twilight Sparkle gave me" – some laughter actually came from scattered reporters – "and I've stumbled upon a few things of interest that everypony might find interesting.

"First is changeling transformation magic is not unique to their species. There is actually a high-level unicorn version that a wingful of unicorns can cast called the polymorph spell. If you would demonstrate, Princess Celestia."

The princess nodded slowly and hesitated for a moment.

She_ is nervous? Does she think she is going to be mistaken for a changeling?_

Unleashing the spell from her horn, Princess Celestia's body morphed and bulged as it changed shape and size in a split second. A scattered few members of the audience – no doubt the ones with excellent eyesight – were actually more revolted now than they had been before.

_Bleh… Even I have to agree that was somewhat disturbing and uncomfortable looking. Maybe that was deliberate._

Princess Celestia had taken the appearance of a midnight blue alicorn with a pale white, ethereal mane. An alicorn that Chrysalis recognized after being shown an illusion of her last night.

Glancing nervously out over the crowd, Chrysalis sighed internally when she did not find any emotions that tasted particularly out-of-place.

_Why on Equus would she take _that_ form of all choices._

"Y-Yes," Daisy Wishes stammered. "A-As you can see, it is quite possible for unicorns to use a functionally equivalent spell. EIS contains a few ponies capable of it and, naturally, T– Archmage Twilight Sparkle can cast it as well. There are also several individuals not associated with Equestrian government that can cast it.

"The spell is not now, nor will it ever be, illegal to use. Archmage Twilight Sparkle has uncovered several relatively simple spells in addition to a few of her own and hoofed them over to the police some time ago to be used in investigations to prevent the misuse of the spell on the offhoof chance that EIS does not need to get involved with investigations in which it or the changeling version was used.

"Not that we've had any problems with changelings. They have a strong sense of community and rarely exhibit behavior in conflict with their values which are very similar to ours and even closer now that their veil of secrecy is gone.

"Oh, and in the interest of time, I think I'll skip the details and demonstrations of those spells I mentioned and any further explanation of changeling magic.

"There was one other thing that I found particularly interesting. Unlike griffins, changelings are not the result of one of Discord's random whims. We have documented evidence – if little of it – of their existence in the pre-Discordian era that Twilight dug out of the archives. Err… That Archmage Twilight Sparkle dug out of the archives.

"Anyway, also unlike seaponies, which we believe are the result of many unicorns with an over-fondness for water and several polymorph spells in pre-Discordian times, changelings are not an offshoot of the common pony ancestor. Although, we likely share an ancestor even further back which we also share with zebras, buffalo, camels, horses, and so on.

"And I guess that's everything really important I have. But I have literally hundreds of sheets of parchment of just research _notes_, so I can probably answer just about any question of immediate concern."

Changing back to her normal form, Princess Celestia said, "And speaking of which, we have covered all of our important topics. If you have a question, please quietly raise your hoof and wait to be called upon."

To a one, the reporters raised their hooves.

Even the two that were changelings.

* * *

It was always strange when the three heads of the military all agreed on something.

Commander Dusk and Captain Armor often agreed on personal matters. Captain Armor and Field Marshal Lance usually agreed on tactics. Lance and Commander Dusk frequently agreed on politics.

When they all agreed, it was just weird. And this time it was on berating the nobility of all things.

The press conference had gone surprisingly well, but the informational session where changelings were explained to the entire senate went about as well as could be expected. Only a wingful of the more exemplary senators like Duke Fancy Pants and his fiancée, Countess Fleur Dis Lee, voiced any real support. The Apple offshoots were oddly going along with the crowd for once.

"And let it go on record for the future," Commander Dusk lectured.

She was standing just in front of the royal box where Prince Blueblood sat with Princess Emerald and Prince Presto in the senate's room with Lance and Captain Armor flanking her. Off to the side stood Marquis Poppycock who had assured them of his neutrality in all things as the speaker for the senate.

"If any_one_ ever finds a potential threat to Equestria which you believe has eluded notice for centuries upon centuries, you _do not_ shout their existence to the heavens. Nor do you force somepony else to do so in your stead."

Lance saw the marquis nod slightly out of the corner of his eye.

_Even _I_ want to buck him upside the head. Colloquially speaking._ – Lance suppressed a sigh – _I need to retire soon. But no matter how this plays out, both princesses shall force me to stay on as a show of support for Princess Luna's reappearance. Sigh…_

Still lecturing, Commander Dusk said, "–Only forces them to action. You quietly report the problem to EIS and we shall _appropriately_ take care of the matter. Field Marshal. Captain. Do either of you have anything you wish to add?"

"No," Lance said. _No amount of scolding shall make these foals learn._

"Just one thing," Captain Armor said. "I wish to emphasize that this particular hive of changelings has been in Equestria for four years already, and many other hives have passed through in the past. The current residents are all considered Equestrian citizens with all the rights citizenship entails."

Lance wished he could rub his temples to subdue his irritation. _Subtle._

"Well said, your highness," agreed Commander Dusk.

_Oh come on. Now you are merely trying to rile them up._

"Now then. There are those among the senate which find themselves very busy with current affairs, so those ponies may now take their leave. Then senate's house arrest is officially lifted and normal proceedings may continue from where they left off yesterday."

"Thank you very much, Commander Dusk." Marquis Poppycock retook his position in the center of the room and continued, "I know I speak for us all when I share my appreciation for clearing up our little misunderstanding."

No three military heads bothered to dignify that with a response. As they turned to leave, Lance walked close enough to the marquis for his whisper to go unheard even with the acoustics and enchantments placed in the senate.

"Expect a personal visit from me later tonight."

"Oh? To what do I owe the pleasure, field marshal?"

"We shall discuss your motives once more in private starting with somepony blue."

Marquis cocked his head the the side and said, "I have not the faintest idea of whom you are speaking." – Lance turned to catch up with the captain and the commander – "Have a good day, field marshal. I shall expect you tonight with great anticipation."

Once Lance had rejoined the other two outside the senate, Captain Armor asked, "Did you get anything out of him?"

"No," Lance replied as they walked through the halls. The good captain was definitely glaring at him, but Lance ignored it and was glad to have Commander Dusk as a buffer between them. "I might be able to get him to sing tonight, but do not count on it."

The commander briefly turned away in disgust. "Dreamwalking is such a pain."

_Tell me about it._

"He _has_ to be involved," Commander Dusk continued. "The marquis _never_ speaks unless he benefits somehow."

"That is only technically true," Lance said. "He is one of the rare politicians that sees the benefit of taking up causes for absolutely no reason."

"Yes, yes, yes," the commander replied. "I know but I have never seen him cause such an uproar just to maintain plausible deniability for future acts. But what I can not figure out is how anypony benefits from exposing changelings. Except perhaps the changelings with how well their exposure went. The princess really knows what she's doing in the PR department."

"I think we can safely discount the marquis helping them out of the good of his heart," Captain Armor said.

"Obviously," Lance and Commander Dusk chorused.

"Has the princess shared any thoughts on the matter with either of you two?"

"No," Lance and the commander chorused again. Lance then asked, "What about your sister?"

"I had a report that she stopped by for a couple hours on unrelated business, but I have not seen her since she first left. Has EIS found anypony we know we can question yet?"

"…Maybe. The archmage gave Espionage two names of ponies to locate. Both were very easy to find and are…incredibly mundane. The first is a breezie named Seabreeze." – both Lance and Captain Armor scowled at the mention of breezies – "The second is Blue Belle."

"She sounds familiar," Lance commented. "A noble?"

"Well, her mother is a baroness but her older sister is in line to inherit the title and her older brother is second in line. The entire family lives in Canterlot."

"Not exactly the kind of ponies I would choose to plot a rebellion with," Captain Armor said. "Did Twily say why she wanted them found?"

"No. And she explicitly said not to interact with them in any way."

"That's unhelpful. I'll write a letter and ask Spike to send it to my sister. Have we found any other leads?"

The commander shook her head. "Even with the changelings helping us, this investigation is like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of the Canterhorn. Honorable Zeal is giving me a constant migraine from the ridiculous demands I have to place on him and he's getting a constant migraine from his agents who are working practically around the clock. It's a nightmare."

When she realized what she had said, Commander Dusk added, "No pun intended."

"Any foreign reports of interest?"

"Not really, field marshal. Just the usual. The griffins continue to be as proud and easily upset by everything as usual. The dragons continue to be uninterested in the world. The buffalo got into a border dispute with us, but it was nothing that we don't see in open court every day between Equestrians.

"The deer are happy in Whitetail Woods and have no problem with our continued rule. The minotaurs are doing their thing. Tartarus is sealed tight. The other changeling hives are predictably _not happy_ about what happened this morning. The–"

"That is enough, commander," Lance said. "Nothing out of the ordinary. We understand."

"My apologies. This is just so _aggravating_." – Commander Dusk's horn and forehead lit up with her light gray magical glow – "If none of us have anything useful to contribute right now…then let us go our separate ways. We can meet up again later tonight after we have leaned on the marquis. Acceptable?"

After a pair of nods, the commander said, "Great. Now I need to go find a doctor that can cure migraines and work out some sort of frequent visitor deal. Goodbye. And try not to fight."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Next chapter the bearers will all finally get together and we can sit back and watch the havoc. Before then, there are three things I will be doing.

First, I am going to outline a plot for The Moon's Apprentice. I might also write the second chapter if I get really excited about it.

Second, I am going to figure out what I want to do with the Apple accent.

Third, I am going to pester my editor/artist friend to death until she gets caught up (my apologizes if this chapter again has a higher than average error count [I am releasing this directly after my second full read-through]).


End file.
